Overexposed Sky?

cyanide24 · 19th July 2006

Hi,

I had several photos taken with the following sky.
Is it an overexposed problem?

If so, how can I prevent this besides reducing shutter speed?
White balance? Filter?
I have taken another one with a better looking sky.
Just want to know how to have a nice sky everytime.

Thanks for your help in advance.

glennyong · 19th July 2006

what u can do is under exposure compensation go for -1/3 or -1/2

or u can use a circular polariser to bring out the sky's contrast

alternatively

do not meter the white / grey areas.... if u have no choice..den u can set to manual and shoot.....

cause if u are shooting on semi-auto or auto, the camera tend of over expose to get the whole picture properly exposed. tats depends on where u meter also. u meter the sky u get a underexpose picture also...

idor · 19th July 2006

or you can also use a grad ND filter....

cyanide24 · 19th July 2006

Originally Posted by idor

or you can also use a grad ND filter....

Thanks for your reply.
What is a grad ND filter?

cyanide24 · 19th July 2006

Originally Posted by glennyong

what u can do is under exposure compensation go for -1/3 or -1/2

or u can use a circular polariser to bring out the sky's contrast

alternatively

do not meter the white / grey areas.... if u have no choice..den u can set to manual and shoot.....

cause if u are shooting on semi-auto or auto, the camera tend of over expose to get the whole picture properly exposed. tats depends on where u meter also. u meter the sky u get a underexpose picture also...

I was on a slow moving car (prob 20km/h) when I snapped both pictures.
Didn't have time to do a manual then.
Will try using the exposure compensation, since it's pretty easy to change that on the Canon S3.
Thanks.

PnS · 19th July 2006

GND will be difficult if your dark and bright areas are too far away from a straight line, like the bright areas in your 2nd pic is L shaped... Hope that your CPL can do the trick or do double exposure and PS later...

Clockunder · 19th July 2006

This has just been discussed last week.

The sky is over-exposed because the tonal range of scene is much greater than what your camera CCD sensor can capture.

In the 2nd picture, the sun was illuminating the foreground and therefore the brightness difference between foreground and sky was much smaller than the scene in 1st picture and the camera CCD sensor was able to capture the narrower tonal range.

For how to deal with such a situation, read this thread : http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=208568

tzesian · 19th July 2006

Originally Posted by idor

or you can also use a grad ND filter....

Absolutely correct !

Go library borrow a few photography books, the example photos tell a thousand words

sharp_shooter · 19th July 2006

try this. don't shoot agains the light. make sure the light is not coming from infront of you. this is best if you are in the moving car. no time to setup anything... or else just life with it if you can't affort to loose the beautiful scene.

19th July 2006	#1
cyanide24 New Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 18	Overexposed Sky? Hi, I had several photos taken with the following sky. Is it an overexposed problem? If so, how can I prevent this besides reducing shutter speed? White balance? Filter? I have taken another one with a better looking sky. Just want to know how to have a nice sky everytime. Thanks for your help in advance.

19th July 2006	#2
glennyong Moderator Join Date: May 2004 Location: ClubSNAP Posts: 5,564	Re: Overexposed Sky? what u can do is under exposure compensation go for -1/3 or -1/2 or u can use a circular polariser to bring out the sky's contrast alternatively do not meter the white / grey areas.... if u have no choice..den u can set to manual and shoot..... cause if u are shooting on semi-auto or auto, the camera tend of over expose to get the whole picture properly exposed. tats depends on where u meter also. u meter the sky u get a underexpose picture also... __________________ blog. http://blog.touchstudios.com.sg

19th July 2006	#3
idor Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Northern California Posts: 669	Re: Overexposed Sky? or you can also use a grad ND filter....

19th July 2006	#6
PnS Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 766	Re: Overexposed Sky? GND will be difficult if your dark and bright areas are too far away from a straight line, like the bright areas in your 2nd pic is L shaped... Hope that your CPL can do the trick or do double exposure and PS later...

19th July 2006	#7
Clockunder Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,767	Re: Overexposed Sky? This has just been discussed last week. The sky is over-exposed because the tonal range of scene is much greater than what your camera CCD sensor can capture. In the 2nd picture, the sun was illuminating the foreground and therefore the brightness difference between foreground and sky was much smaller than the scene in 1st picture and the camera CCD sensor was able to capture the narrower tonal range. For how to deal with such a situation, read this thread : http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=208568

19th July 2006	#9
sharp_shooter Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 66	Re: Overexposed Sky? try this. don't shoot agains the light. make sure the light is not coming from infront of you. this is best if you are in the moving car. no time to setup anything... or else just life with it if you can't affort to loose the beautiful scene.