Overcast skies - tips?

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mrhoddy

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Any tips for bringing out detail in overcast skies (especially when they're bright)?
 
ND Grad Neutral Densitly Filter will bring back detail to your skies, On clouldy days with a bit of clear skies around a polariser filter will add contrast and bring out the blue sky when used corectly.
 
I generally underexpose a tad, although that's only really of benefit when there is actually some form of detail in the sky - totally white skies just look grey and no mater how many grads you use (physical or digital), you're still only gradding something that's got no depth.

The main issue with underexposing is the noise you bring out when you process to lift the levels, but that's a small price to pay to get rid of an uninspiring sky
 
If your eye sees just a plain white or grey sky, then nothing you can do will solve that in a photo. Either wait until a different day where the sky has some detail, or use photoshop to chop in a decent sky from another day.

The only time ND grads will be of use, is when the detail is there, its just too bright for the camera to expose properly and also expose the foreground.
If the detail isnt there to start with, a ND grad wont add it.
 
useful thread, I always wondered the answer to that question, Thanks.
 
markmullen said:
If they're really flat there isn't much you can do other than use ND grads to balance the brightness.

If there is a little detail to them you can use tone mapping to bring out that detail and make them good and moody.
Click to expand...

Your moody skies example shots on your website are what I'm talking about - deep down!! especially the hay bale ones and then also the moody B&W shots - were some of these via nd grads or tone mapping or both etc?
 
TCR4x4 said:
If your eye sees just a plain white or grey sky, then nothing you can do will solve that in a photo. Either wait until a different day where the sky has some detail, or use photoshop to chop in a decent sky from another day.

The only time ND grads will be of use, is when the detail is there, its just too bright for the camera to expose properly and also expose the foreground.
If the detail isnt there to start with, a ND grad wont add it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this - useful, for some reason im thinking that a filter will somehow deepen the shading between clouds etc and bring them out if you know what I mean
 
mrhoddy said:
Thanks for this - useful, for some reason im thinking that a filter will somehow deepen the shading between clouds etc and bring them out if you know what I mean
Click to expand...

It will I'f they're there. Yours eyes have much greater dynamic range than a camera, so if you can't see it, the camera has no chance.
If you can see cloud in the sky, then a grad will be of some use. If its just plain white or grey, then a filter won't do anything other than make it darker white or grey!
 
TCR4x4 said:
It will I'f they're there. Yours eyes have much greater dynamic range than a camera, so if you can't see it, the camera has no chance.
If you can see cloud in the sky, then a grad will be of some use. If its just plain white or grey, then a filter won't do anything other than make it darker white or grey!
Click to expand...

You see now I think then penny has dropped as to why im getting a little confused - the circ polariser does do this as it cuts out the reflected light and so it can give better depth between cloud contours if that makes sense - so how are moody looking skies created then - assuming that there is some detail to the clouds in the first place is that grad nd?
 
Yes.
And as well as a slight under exposure you can also bracket. Try it out for different looks.

And once you have got some, make a "Sky" folder in your desktop. It's amazingly easy to drop sky's into images as long as there's a horizon using PS so if you have a great shot with a flat "nothing" sky you can deal with it that way :-)

I have a "sky" folder which then has "moody" "dramatic", "happy" and "night" sub folders!!

Or maybe that's just me in my sick world....:-)

Dean
 
The burn tool is very useful for making dramatic skies...
 
mrhoddy said:
Your moody skies example shots on your website are what I'm talking about - deep down!! especially the hay bale ones and then also the moody B&W shots - were some of these via nd grads or tone mapping or both etc?
Click to expand...

Thanks!

A combination of nd grads to bring them down a little, then Nik's Color Efex, the detail enhancer tool is a form of tone mapping and really brings out the detail.
 
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