How to take good landscape (natural and urban) shots in flat, dull light?

hiphopopotamus

hiphopopotamus

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Hi all,

I recently got back from a trip to Europe where, due to the inclement weather that has gripped us recently, a lot of the shots I had hoped to get were dull and uninspiring. I have sort of saved a few by using post processing methods (selective b&w for example), and managed to get others I was happy with by just mainly taking my camera out at night. However, I had wondered what types of photos you guys might try and take if you get a bland, grey sky? Do you try cutting it out? Or going for close up shots? Just looking for a bit of inspiration really, felt quite helpless when trying to take landscape/cityscape photos in the daytime!
Thanks
 
I'm afraid there are no magic tips, in my opinion the vast majority of the impact a landscape shot has is from its lighting, good lighting can make a mundane scene amazing, conversely an amazing scene can look dull and uninspiring in poor light.

If the light is bad there is little you can do about it, just be glad you're there to enjoy the place and keep an eye out for things to do that don't rely on the light, detail shots, night shots etc.
 
Or red scale. Depending on the scene. I always find that it brings out the cloud structure in overcast skies.
 
A day out doing landscapes often requires getting a day off work for me so the weather is pretty much pot luck.

I tend to have a b plan for rubbish light (natural landscapes) and it often involves rivers, and waterfalls where subdued light can be a bonus. You can use longer exposures whilst retaining wider apertures for shallow dof without having to resort to ND filters and you don't need to worry too much about reflections and polarizers etc.
 
I also find that using a longer lens in things like woodlands and waterfalls works well as you can get frame the sky out of the shot, thus hiding the dull plain grey/white sky. Works really nicely on avenues of trees etc!
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions, b&w seems to be the general consensus, though ill start taking filters out too on days like that and search for some interesting sights. The red scale actually helped to save one of my pictures too, so thanks for that KayJay
 
B&W and dark and moody, as long as there is a little definition in the sky you can bring it out in PP. Try long exposures with 10 stop Nd. Try this at the coast and try this if there is any cloud that may make nice streaks on LE. If its wet try woodland and streams.
Lots you can do you just have to think outside of the box.
 
Would agree with Keety, an N.D grad will add definition to the clouds and try long exposures.
Look around and see what else is there to photograph, I was at a talk last night hosted by Colin Prior and he tends to look into the landscape and chose subjects there. Whether he is at the coast and looks for interesting shapes and colours in the rocks/pebbles and seaweed etc or if he is in woodland then he prefers to photograph trees as the flat light helps the shot and he prefers it to be slightly misty as it adds to the shot.
 
davehedgehog said:
I was at a talk last night hosted by Colin Prior and he tends to look into the landscape and chose subjects there. Whether he is at the coast and looks for interesting shapes and colours in the rocks/pebbles and seaweed etc or if he is in woodland then he prefers to photograph trees as the flat light helps the shot and he prefers it to be slightly misty as it adds to the shot.
Click to expand...

That's really interesting. I've always been rubbish at landscapes and couldn't work out why I was failing so badly.

A few weeks ago I had the thought that I shouldn't be looking AT the landscape but INTO it.

It's starting to work for me I think. (I'm still rubbish though) :D
 
The other option is to shoot infrared, great for dull days as IR will pierce the clouds.
 
Work with it. Sometimes bleak is just what the scene is, and often scenes like that don't benefit from a lot of post work. I guess to some people that might be dull.

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