Avoid blow out

[ACRPhotography]

I have no flash as of right now - it is broken and I have yet to send it back or gathered the money for an external. So I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to not blow out the sky with no flash.


I shoot manual only.

 

[Robin Usagani]

put the sun in front of the subject
shoot it on a cloudy day
dont include the sky if you shoot toward the sun.

 

[Josh66]

So I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to not blow out the sky with no flash.


I shoot manual only.

Set the proper exposure... If you shoot manual, just meter the sky and make sure it's not blown out. Honestly, if you 'shoot manual only', you should already know how to do this...

Use a reflector if you need a little fill light.

 

[ACRPhotography]

So I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to not blow out the sky with no flash.


I shoot manual only.

Set the proper exposure... If you shoot manual, just meter the sky and make sure it's not blown out. Honestly, if you 'shoot manual only', you should already know how to do this...

Use a reflector if you need a little fill light.

I do shoot manual only, I don't shoot in auto but I'm struggling with this factor. Honestly.

 

[camz]

If you're going to be including the sky in your shoots, without any external light sources you're unfortunately only going to be limited to shooting during the golden hours. Outside of that, you may pull it off with a reflector but you just can't have the sun in the frame. Schwetty also brought up a point to having the sun infront of the subject but be careful as they will be prone to squinting.

 

[Josh66]

What kind of camera are you using? Does it have a meter? An external meter will help a lot if your camera doesn't have one.

Also, what kind of pictures are you asking about? Portraits, landscapes, something else...?

 

[Hatch1921]

Place the person with the sun on their back... use a reflector for fill.
Covered shade... reflector for fill.
Put the person facing the sun... use a diffusion panel over the top to soften the light... reflector for fill.
Expose for the background... and... use ...a reflector for fill

Hatch

 

[ACRPhotography]

I shoot portraits. I like to shoot around sunset. But sometimes when I shoot in black and white, my skies get blown out. I know I can always use lightroom 3 and use the recover option when its in color, but it doesn't do much in black and white.

I'm using a Sony Alpha A230, and my camera doesn't have a meter.

 

[Josh66]

I'm using a Sony Alpha A230, and my camera doesn't have a meter.

I suggest that you spend some quality time with your manual. Your camera does have a meter...

 

[ACRPhotography]

I'm using a Sony Alpha A230, and my camera doesn't have a meter.

I suggest that you spend some quality time with your manual. Your camera does have a meter...

oh!! my bad lmfao. I confused myself for a seond!! XD hahahah oh that is sooooo embarassing T_T I do lol! XD I feel so embarassed

 

[clanthar]

I do shoot manual only, I don't shoot in auto but I'm struggling with this factor. Honestly.

Why are you shooting in manual? Are you using an external light meter? If not, then why waste the extra time to shoot in manual and be less accurate?

If you can't manipulate the lighting contrast where you are (flash and/or reflectors) then you have to select appropriate lighting contrast by going to where it is.

Joe

 

[KmH]

Why are you shooting in B&W?

Shoot it in color, then convert it to B&W, though if all you have is Lightroom you're limited when it comes to the conversion, but it would still be better than shooting B&W.

Do you shoot Raw, or JPEG? What metering mode do you use to shoot portraits?

 

[CNWPhoto]

If you aren't shooting into the sun it shouldn't be much of a problem... I would just over expose a tiny bit for the person, and crank the I'll light up a bit in post. Also, if shooting into the sun, crank up your iso, shoot at f/16, and over expose a bit. The sky will still be blue, but you will get a starred out sun.