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Where did my sky go???
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May 6, 2012 08:24:38   #
JudyM Loc: Middle Georgia
 
I would appreciate any help on this subject.....I took 130 pictures of this couple. They all turned out pretty good EXCEPT the ones with the sky in the background. The sky was a beautiful blue that day and you would never know by looking at my pix. It happened on all of this pose.

I'm sure it's "operator" error but I can't figure it out. This has happened to me on other shoots with a lot of sky in the background. Other times, the sky comes out beautiful.

Camera settings: f/5; 1/125; I-200

Thank you in advance!
Judy



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May 6, 2012 09:09:40   #
Frank T Loc: New York, NY
 
It's not that you did anything wrong, it's just the nature of photography. You exposed correctly for the people and that in turn overexposed the sky, burning it out. What you can try is to expose for the sky and then use flash to light the people so they're exposed correctly. Remember when you're setting exposure most cameras normally sync at 1/250 but many have settings that you can use for high speed sync; so check your manual.

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May 6, 2012 09:20:50   #
WVHillbilly Loc: West Virginia
 
Frank T wrote:
It's not that you did anything wrong, it's just the nature of photography. You exposed correctly for the people and that in turn overexposed the sky, burning it out. What you can try is to expose for the sky and then use flash to light the people so they're exposed correctly. Remember when you're setting exposure most cameras normally sync at 1/250 but many have settings that you can use for high speed sync; so check your manual.


Thank you FrankT, same thing has been happening to my photos with a 'big' sky background. I'm going out to try your tip now.

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May 6, 2012 09:29:24   #
JudyM Loc: Middle Georgia
 
Thank you so much. I'll try that with the flash.

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May 6, 2012 13:18:25   #
AK Dreamer Loc: Alaska & Nevada
 
I agree with Frank T's comment that the camera adjusted for the folks in the picture and as a result the sky was blown out. The photo in this case can be easily "repaired" in PP, if you were so inclined, by adding a sky from your archives. A purist may balk at this but if you wanted this photo to put in a frame it would enhance the picture. Obviously this is not a cure for future photos but it is an option for correcting the photo presented in this posting and others you may have.

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May 6, 2012 18:57:57   #
ArtSeaMom Loc: Cocoa Beach, FL
 
I had the same problem and finally reached the conclusions offered. I have started a file of skies in Photoshop ...

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May 6, 2012 20:22:51   #
JudyM Loc: Middle Georgia
 
Thank you for the tips. I'm going to try both.... Adjusting for future shots and try to repair the ones I have.

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May 6, 2012 21:58:44   #
ngc1514 Loc: Atlanta, Ga., Lancaster, Oh. and Stuart, Fl.
 
What metering mode are you using?

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May 7, 2012 06:28:55   #
Turbo Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
Did you shoot in Raw ??

If you did, you can use the "CURVES" and likely regain some of that blue sky !

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May 7, 2012 08:18:15   #
danielle_andrassy Loc: Ontario, Canada
 
I am not a bid expert here but would a circular polarized filter help in this case? May be someone could comment on that suggestion.

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May 7, 2012 08:45:25   #
Turbo Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
danielle_andrassy wrote:
I am not a bird expert here but would a circular polarized filter help in this case? May be someone could comment on that suggestion.



A C. P. filter will only help if the sun is at 90Deg.

Example: you are shooting East ( or West ) and the sun is South.

Also, there is such a wide dynamic range ( difference between the dark and the bright ) in your pic that your camera sensor cannot handle it. It then decides to expose the face correctly and blow out the bright sky.

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May 7, 2012 09:13:11   #
Photoman74 Loc: Conroe Tx
 
JudyM wrote:
I would appreciate any help on this subject.....I took 130 pictures of this couple. They all turned out pretty good EXCEPT the ones with the sky in the background. The sky was a beautiful blue that day and you would never know by looking at my pix. It happened on all of this pose.

I'm sure it's "operator" error but I can't figure it out. This has happened to me on other shoots with a lot of sky in the background. Other times, the sky comes out beautiful.

Camera settings: f/5; 1/125; I-200

Thank you in advance!
Judy
I would appreciate any help on this subject.....I ... (show quote)


Neutral Density filters work well when scene has a horz, Ocean -Sky. But not for this shot.
Sky exposure and fill flash, Yes
Adding sky in PP- Yes
Exposing for couple 1st shot and Sky 2nd shot merging in PP ??
movement.

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May 7, 2012 10:38:13   #
beverett Loc: los angeles
 
Several responses are spot on: different exposure for the sky, and a filter won't help. Expose for the sky and light up your people with flash. May take a couple of attempts, but keep changing settings until you get a result you like. My favorites are sunset shots.

Rooftop shot
Rooftop shot...

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May 7, 2012 12:03:51   #
MtnMan Loc: ID
 
ArtSeaMom wrote:
I had the same problem and finally reached the conclusions offered. I have started a file of skies in Photoshop ...


Yes, I do the same with Photoshop Elements.

The nice thing with these is that selection is easy. Select the sky with the magic want and then "Select inverse" to get the people. You can then copy and paste them onto a layer.

You then make a new layer from one of your library of skys. I have a sky tag in the organizer so they are real easy to find.

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May 7, 2012 12:23:59   #
MtnMan Loc: ID
 
MtnMan wrote:
ArtSeaMom wrote:
I had the same problem and finally reached the conclusions offered. I have started a file of skies in Photoshop ...


Yes, I do the same with Photoshop Elements.

The nice thing with these is that selection is easy. Select the sky with the magic want and then "Select inverse" to get the people. You can then copy and paste them onto a layer.

You then make a new layer from one of your library of skys. I have a sky tag in the organizer so they are real easy to find.
quote=ArtSeaMom I had the same problem and finall... (show quote)


Ah, selection is a little harder than I thought because of the bright behind the hair.

Matt Kloskowski describes a way to deal with this in the latest issue of Elements Magazine. Here's what I got without doing what he recommends.



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