How do I stop blowing out the sky!?!

Stradawhovious · Sep 17, 2012

My overlookable .02.....

#1, shooting at 90 degrees to the sun provides the best opportunity to get a good sky.... especially with a Circular Polarizer (which I HIGHLY recommend for almost all outdoor shooting...) #2, most every outdoor posed portrait will benefit from the "2 exposure method" outlined above by other folks. Meter for the sky, provide fill light for your subjects. It doesn't take much tinkering at all to get the Jist of it, and a good grasp of the concept. Some people will prefer reflectors, I personally prefer flash. For me it's faster, more compact and more manageable for an "on location" type deal. This is something that is really easy to practice in your backyard with the help of an inanimate object.

Derrel · Sep 17, 2012

Guy goes to the doctor and says, "Doc, when I do this with my arm, well, the pain in my elbow just KILLS me!"

Doctor says, "Well, we can fix that right up, no problem!"

So, the guy asks the doctor, "Oh,so, is there a shot for that, or some medicine that'll cure my problem?"

The doctor looks at the guy and says, "NO---just STOP DOING "THAT" with your elbow!"

paigew · Sep 17, 2012

Derrel said:
Guy goes to the doctor and says, "Doc, when I do this with my arm, well, the pain in my elbow just KILLS me!"

Doctor says, "Well, we can fix that right up, no problem!" "Oh, is there a shot for that, or some medicine that'll cure my problem?"

The doctor looks at the guy and says, "NO---just STOP DOING "THAT" with your elbow!"

hahahaha hilarious...did you learn that one from my mom :lol:

allison_dcp · Sep 18, 2012

I havent been online in a couple days, I just wanted to say thank you all who posted suggestions. It gives me alot to work with!

Phototripper · Sep 21, 2012

You could use a little exposure compensation and darken the exposure for the sky to look proper, but that will make your subjects darker. By adding fill light in Photoshop in post production, you can bring the subjects back out of the dark. This works, but is not the best approach. I use it when I do not have a flash and it does work. Another trick would be to take two exposures, one where the sky is properly exposed and the other where your subjects are properly exposed and then merge them together in PS. Lot of work on that solution.

Graystar · Sep 24, 2012

allison_dcp said:
Took some photos today at our reunion with my Canon EOS 20D and 50mm lens. I am working on my exposure and was paying close attention to the meter on the camera and my settings, but still manage to blow out the sky! How can I avoid this?(f/5 1/250 and 200ISO)

This is neither a DR problem nor an exposure problem. The primary problem is that the light source is in the image. There is no exposure setting or procedure that would have captured the sky correctly.

Fill flash would not have helped in this case. Fill flash is for filling small areas of shadow when the ambient exposure would have underexposed those areas. This is the opposite problem. The ambient exposure is overexposing small areas. Solving the problem with flash would require turning the shot into a flash exposure (ambient light suppressed.) In this case you would need an external flash that was capable of High Speed Sync.

The image in question appears to have been taken on a sunny day. On sunny days, there are two light sources in the sky. The first, of course, is the sun. Anything illuminated directly by the sun will require an exposure in line with the Sunny 16 rule. The second light source, is the sky glow. That's the blue sky. When you're in open shade, you're being illuminated by the sky glow, which at least three stop less light than direct sun.

Anytime you have in your image both a light source and the items lit by that source, either the items will be underexposed or the light source will be overexposed. It doesn't matter whether it's sky and shade, or some items on your desk illuminated by a lamp...you can't properly expose both the source, and light reflected from the source, at the same time. That's the problem in the example image.

To solve the problem in camera, you have to recompose and get rid of the light source. You can also decide to solve the problem in post processing. First set exposure such that the sky is almost overexposed. It will be rendered white in post processing, and the rest of your image will be underexposed. Then in post, adjust the lighting of the various areas to recreate the scene as you remember it. If you didn't overexpose the sky, then you should be able to make it blue again.

skieur · Sep 24, 2012

cgipson1 said:
MK3Brent said:

Bottom line is exposure. You're metering their face most likely and getting the proper exposer for them. The sky is much brighter. If you want a darker sky, you'll need a faster shutter. Now under exposed people. You could then add fill with a flash, sure. If you get a graduated ND filter, you can put the darker part of the filter in the sky framed above your subjects. Cheaper than buying a flash and less weight to carry around. Just an overall good option also.

Click to expand...

A GND might be useful in 1 of 10 shots.... too limiting in the framing.... and what if you have sky behind the people? GND on them might look a bit odd, don't you think? (wow.. how did they get that half tan so fast?)

Or if you use a Cokin type GND where you can slide it, than you have dark sky above people, and light sky behind them... doesn't look very natural!

With flash.. you can use aperture to control the exposure on the subject, and shutter speed to underexpose the sky.... works great!