Overexposed photos on overcast days... Why??

[Emily T.]

Hi! I'm not new to photography but I feel like this issue is so basic it should be posted here. I love shooting in the golden hour because I have those camera settings down to a science but overcast days are another story. Every single session I have on an overcast day ends up horribly overexposed no matter what adjustments I make in the camera. It wouldn't let me upload a RAW file, which is worse looking of course, but maybe you can see what I mean in the JPEG I attached. Can anyone tell me the combination of f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO that is ideal for shooting on a cloudy day?? Or any other tips?! Thanks in advance!

 

[480sparky]

Exposure Compensation has been changed.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D7100
Image Date: 2014-11-29 14:32:16 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 32mm (35mm equivalent: 48mm)
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
ISO equiv: 200
Exposure Bias: +2.67 EV
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Rotate 270
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Software: Ver.1.01

 

[The_Traveler]

As Sparky noted in bold, you have, probably inadvertently, added 2.67 stops of exposure compensation ( p. 86 in your manual)

 

[Emily T.]

Ugh, wow, I knew it had to be something super simple. So frustrating! Thank you for the reply! Any suggestions on how to salvage these photos? I've taken the highlights and exposure down in Lightroom but they just look weird. Anything else I can do, maybe in Photoshop?

 

[The_Traveler]

If there is no detail in the highlights, no.

 

[NancyMoranG]

When I got my 7000, I was doing this without realizing it too!
Welcome to the club and the Forum!
Nancy

 

[Overread]

If there is no detail in the highlights, no.

+1 - with digital sensors when you blow the highlights the camera doesn't record any detail, it only records the white. Thus totally over-exposed areas can't be recovered. Sadly this is a case of chalking it up to the experiences board and going out and shooting again.

 

[dennybeall]

You can try putting the raw shot into Photoshop and taking the exposure way, way down. There may be some detail that was lost with the jpg conversion. Not likely but possible for a little bit to be there. The sample looks totally blown out though.

 

[Light Guru]

Can anyone tell me the combination of f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO that is ideal for shooting on a cloudy day??

There is no magic setting that will work on every cloudy day.

Lean the exposure triangle and you can get good exposures in any situation.

 

[Bebulamar]

There is no magic settings for anything but cloudy days are the easiest time to get correct exposure as the light is very soft and the scenes are likely to have relatively low dynamic range.

 

[480sparky]

There is no magic settings for anything but cloudy days are the easiest time to get correct exposure as the light is very soft and the scenes are likely to have relatively low dynamic range.

So are you going to hoard those magic settings for yourself or are you going to let the rest of us in on the secret?

 

[gsgary]

There is no magic settings for anything but cloudy days are the easiest time to get correct exposure as the light is very soft and the scenes are likely to have relatively low dynamic range.

So are you going to hoard those magic settings for yourself or are you going to let the rest of us in on the secret?

Just use the sunny 16 rule

 

[dennybeall]

Since our eyes adjust so easily for brightness it's almost impossible to guess at a setting or use a fixed set of settings on an overcast day. A cloudy day can have a huge variance in brightness and our eyes just adjust. You have to use a light meter or just try some settings.
Not sure why this discussion came up? If you put the camera in Manual Mode and use the meter properly you'll get the settings. You can then go to "A" or "S" if needed and set based on the meter reading.

 

[480sparky]

So are you going to hoard those magic settings for yourself or are you going to let the rest of us in on the secret?

Just use the sunny 16 rule

So, use f/16 all the time?

 

[gsgary]

So are you going to hoard those magic settings for yourself or are you going to let the rest of us in on the secret?

Just use the sunny 16 rule

So, use f/16 all the time?

Thats not how it works