How do I....

[cdnaiphoto]

get the subject perfectly exposed without under/over exposing the sky??

 

[peanut170]

shoot in the right light, practice, and read books.

 

[AdrianC]

For minute changes you could try a polarizing filter.

There's also a technique called HDR, I believe. You basically take 4-5 pictures of the same thing at various exposures and then you combine them all into one picture on your computer.

 

[cdnaiphoto]

Not sure if HDR would work in situations like photographing toddlers, families, etc.

I was trying to stick with available light photography for awhile and I think that is what is making it so hard for me..

 

[AdrianC]

Well then your only other option is to shoot at a better time, maybe early in the morning, or late in the evening.

 

[pgriz]

get the subject perfectly exposed without under/over exposing the sky??

Your digital camera (assuming that's what you've got) has a limited dynamic range of about 8 stops (4 stops underexposure to black and 4 stops overexposure to white). If the scene you're shooting has a brightness range that is wider than that, then something's gonna be either all black or all white. The sky is usually 5-6 stops brighter than the stuff on the ground, and therefore usually is white when you expose for the ground stuff. There are essentially three ways of reducing the brightness differential "in-camera": (1) use a graduated neutral density filter to reduce the sky brightness, (2) use a fill-flash or reflector to brighten up the subject, or (3) choose an exposure is between the one for sky and for ground, so the sky is bright but still had detail, and the ground stuff is dark, but also has detail.

Failing this, you expose for the sky, and shoot, then expose for your subject, and take a second shot and blend the two with a HDR program or layer effect in PS.

 

[sovietdoc]

i usually shoot bursts of 3-5 pics in different exposures, then I either try and do HDR or just play around with raw in LR, and play more with onOne plugins and photoshop and manually make people bright and the sky well exposed (not white)