• Photos

  • Level

  • Score

BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Photography Question 

BetterPhoto Member 		 

Blue skies?? My photos always turn out grey & drab


I have a Rebel Ti with a 25-80 and a 100-300. I am fairly new to photography so I usually use the full auto setting.

No matter how blue the sky is when I take a photo I never get a blue sky!? I have tried early morning, afternoon, late afternoon, what am I doing wrong?


To love this question, log in above
July 06, 2004

 

Jon Close 		  The sky is very much brighter than your foreground subjects. Film cannot capture the contrast range that your eyes percieve, so when the exposure is good on the near subject, the sky tends to go pale blue to white. Try using a polarizer, or if you have a level horizon in the scene a graduated neutral density filter, to get a darker blue sky.


To love this comment, log in above
July 06, 2004

 

Bob Cammarata 		 
 
  Cloudscape
Cloudscape
Nikkor 50 mm, Provia 100

Bob Cammarata

  
  Pastoral
Pastoral
Nikkor 50 mm, Provia 100

Bob Cammarata

  
 
You can also try switching to "metered-manual", and meter directly off the sky to capture its true blue.

If the sun is behind you, the light intensity hitting the foreground landscape will be close enough to that which is reflected off the distant sky to render the entire scene pretty close to how it appeared to the naked eye. (See example..."Pastoral".)

If the sun is in front of you, your foreground will silhouette.
Unless there are interesting shapes and designs you want to accentuate, you may want to eliminate as much of the foreground landscape as possible, and make the sky itself the main point of interest. (See example..."Cloudscape")

Both examples were metered off a blue portion of the sky without any lens filtration.


To love this comment, log in above
July 06, 2004

 
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here

Report this Thread