Bland Grey Sky

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How do I tackle these?

More often than not I want to take a picture and the sky is quite bright, but its grey and has no colour. It either blows out the image or the subject is underexposed. I like being out and about and dont want to have to just start avoiding taking pictures just because of the sky.

What do you guys do?
 
ND Grad filter, but if it's a landscape it'll 99% of the time look better under a proper sky.
 
Well I have been taking bracketed exposures then doing a blend or (graduated) mask in GIMP.

So basically take a shot for the foreground...look at the image and histogram/blinkies on LCD. Take an image for the sky and repeat.

Then playaround with the Auto Exposure Bracketing function on your camera where it will take 3 shots and then fix it in post processing.

Alternatively, get some Graduated ND Filters. My Lee Foundation kit just arrived today along with a 4stop GND from Hitech - so I am gonna have a play with with this for while.


Andy
 
I've looked into filters, but I'm thinking more of when I am just out and about randomly snapping.

How would an ND grad work when its for example only the upper left quarter of a shot and you have the horrible grey sky out?
 
The filter holder can rotate and the filter and move up and down inside the holding slots.

It won't work for any variation of any scene. Its really just as good as its gonna get unless you employ bracketed exposures and post processing but that takes a bit of time to do.
 
Thanks chaps,

If for example I dont have filters to hand, what do I set my exposure on? I am starting to use full manual and like to set the exposure I want then dial in the right shutter time. I have been using the single point metering, I take a reading, adjust then recompose the shot.

(Makes my random snapping sound very technical)
 
It depends what is most important in the scene.

In a high contrast situation, it will be impossible to capture the detail across the scene - hence the use of filters or post processing.

Take a sunset for example...You might want to capture most of the colours in the sky yet that could subject the foreground to becoming almost a silhouette.

Now visualise how a ND Grad would work here, holding back the sky a couple of stops and letting you expose a bit better for the foreground.


*EDIT* forgot to mention HDR as an alternative in post processing.
 
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