Don’t be put off by dull weather – an bland sky doesn’t necessarily translate to a dreary photograph
T
he phase ‘grey sky’ conjures conjur es a certain cer tain negativity; negativit y; many of us complain of days when we are deprived of sunshine. It is easy to get depressed under constant grey skies, yet there is a positive side to this weather. The rst thing to understand is that the term ‘grey skies’ covers a multitude of weather conditions, ranging from a thick, impenetrable cloud to a gentle scattering in an otherwise blue sky, and each presents its own unique opportunity. My own take is to recall a quote by the motivational speaker Paul F Davis: “The sun always shines above the clouds.” So, what are the positives? po sitives? A) LAYERS OF CLOUD helps to A) LAYERS reduce contrast. When using a modern DSLR camera, while it will
have many assets, one of the main drawbacks is that the images are prone to appear too contrasty, contrast y, especially in strong sunlight. This is rarely a problem in overcast light. Seasoned photographers often refer to such weather as ‘the softbox in the sky’. Should you wish to photograph a portrait or a gure out doors, the result are far more g rey sky. attering under a grey
B) GREY SKIES evokes a mood that B) GREY works well in certain landsca landscape pe situations. While we all respond to the picturesque landscape, with experience exper ience want to explore new avenues, capturing landscapes that express pathos and sadness; such scenes are complemented by a dark sky. One of the challenges, when shooting landscapes, is to ensure that the sky appears sympathetic to the mood of the picture.
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Select the Cloudy white balance setting to reduce colour casts on overcast days
C) LANDSCAPES taken on a cloudy C) LANDSCAPES day often work well in black and white. By eliminating eliminating colour colour,, while while emphasizing the tonal values, the mood of the landscape becomes considerably more apparent. Shoot in colour and convert to black and white with your your favoured favoured post post-processing processin g software to retain full image quality. A variation is to retain your image in i n colour, but to to purposefully reduce the saturation; such images can look stunning.
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men t tm trrea t i te t wh te The black-and- wh Th e vercas t his o v th ell on t we orks w wo w eld scene, sho t in fie ed fi te irriga t ia,, USA i fornia hern Cal fo th Sou t
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Because the tr tre ees li lin ning this French canal a arren en’’t bac ack klit b y a a bri rig ght b bllue sk y , d de eta taiil is is rev eale led d 08
T hick cloud enables the t f t
Reveal hidden details
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men t tm trrea t i te t wh te The black-and- wh Th ercas t ve his o v th ell on t we orks w wo w eld scene, sho t in fie ed fi te irriga t ia,, USA ifornia hern Cal fo th Sou t
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Because the tr tre ees li lin ning this French canal a arren en’’t bac ack klit b y a a bri rig ght b bllue sk y , d de eta taiil is is rev eale led d 08
T hick cloud enables the sun to f eatur e behind the abandoned g r ra in elev ator , in Madoc, Montana, USA
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Set the right white balance
When including a grey sky in your landscape, it is essential that it appears free of colour cast; to ensure this happens, you need to select the correct white balance. The AWB option is remarkably reliable, but if want to make sure, select Cloudy, which accurately measures 6000 Kelvins of light, typical of an overcast day.
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Emphasize the tones
In overcast light the emphasis on your images should be tonal; whether you retain your image in colour, or decide to convert it to black and white, the tones communicate a mood. Achieving this in bright sunlight would have proven difficult.
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Shoot into the sun
Grey skies provide a rare opportunity where you are able to include the sun within the composition, without encountering underexposure. As it remains thinly veiled by cloud, it offers a much needed feature within an otherwise blank sky.
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If I had viewed this delicate tracery of trees set against a blue sky, much of the detail would have been lost. Seen against a very pale grey sky, the simple beauty of these trees becomes immediately more apparent.
10 If the sky really is dreary, simply omit it altogether 10
Reveal hidden details
Exclude featureless skies
Don’t always feel compelled to include a sky when shooting landscapes; often the image can appear much improved without it. In this forest photo, the sky was flat and featureless and would have added very little to the image.
