Any tips for white sky/overcast?

rookieshooter

I was in NYC recently and the sky was just pure white -- no blue or color at all.



I didn't really know what to do other than to not put it in the frame but it was hard because I only had a wide angle lens with me.

I tried lowering the ISO to its lowest setting and adjusting exposure compensation but it is just white space -- didn't really know what else to do with it.

anyone have any tips for dealing with this kind of light?

Don Kondra

Circular polarizer would help depending on the angle to the sun...

I've only read that ND filters are useful also...

Cheers, Don

pathfinder

Many folks feel that the best choice for flat white skies are to omit them from the frame.

Sad, but true.

amg2833

I tend to avoid putting them in the frame myself. Great shot though.

I did portraits for a friend of mine, and it was fairly easy to add convincing color in Photoshop.

aaronbrown

rookieshooter wrote:

I was in NYC recently and the sky was just pure white -- no blue or color at all.



I didn't really know what to do other than to not put it in the frame but it was hard because I only had a wide angle lens with me.

I tried lowering the ISO to its lowest setting and adjusting exposure compensation but it is just white space -- didn't really know what else to do with it.

anyone have any tips for dealing with this kind of light?

If you shot RAW, you might be able to pull some detail back in to the sky on a seperate layer in Photoshop and mask it into this one.

Art Scott

cut and replace........I try shooting clouds and blue skies when ever we have them here to get a library of them for future use.............

Chile Chef

rookieshooter wrote:

I was in NYC recently and the sky was just pure white -- no blue or color at all.



I didn't really know what to do other than to not put it in the frame but it was hard because I only had a wide angle lens with me.

I tried lowering the ISO to its lowest setting and adjusting exposure compensation but it is just white space -- didn't really know what else to do with it.

anyone have any tips for dealing with this kind of light?

Yes if you have a meter that looks like 2+....V...._2

Next time you go out shooting set that meter to 2+..*..V...._2

and you should have blue skies, or a blue sky with no clouds depending on what you want next time.

Chile Chef

I've fixed your sky problem for you in Adobe photoshop, I hope it was ok?


Here's the final result.

rookieshooter

Thanks Chile. What did you adjust?

Chile Chef

rookieshooter wrote:

Thanks Chile. What did you adjust?

I really didn't adjust anything but the underline layer, and the "this layer" that's what an option is called. What I did was, I went to google, I found a a blue sky texture that would match your picture, Then I made a basic layer on top of your picture, placed the sky texture on the main picture, Messed with the underline layer "which is your picture", messed with the overline "this layer" which is the sky texture, then I've used the eraser and erased a lot of the sky texture from the main picture.

Child play for sure.

Tiziano

Don't forget the sky reflection in the lower right (on the water). It should mimic what's in the sky just above the trees on that side.

rookieshooter

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic with the "childplay" comment as I'm a total photoshop newb. I don't even use it other than "auto levels" if that. Most of the time I just pull them off the card because I do the correcting in the field, know what I mean?

Chile Chef

rookieshooter wrote:

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic with the "childplay" comment as I'm a total photoshop newb. I don't even use it other than "auto levels" if that. Most of the time I just pull them off the card because I do the correcting in the field, know what I mean?

I'm not being sarcastic, I can do much of the photo repair during my sleep, I've been using photoshop for about 5 years, and I've finally made a break through with photoshop about a year ago, and it's been smooth saling ever since.