Bobby Boy1 Loc: Leeds West Yorkshire England

I keep burning out the sky on some of my pictures.I have kindly been given a set of Graduated filters but as yet have not tried them. (Not sure how to use them.)Could these help with my skies and if not what am I doing wrong.
Any help please.

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

That is what they are for, I meter then add filter

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/how-to/shooting/using-graduated-neutral-density-filters.html

go6s Loc: Scotland

I think I am right in saying that the graduated filters will help. Mount the filter with the darker portion at the top to block some of the light from the sky.

This can also be done in photoshop!

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Some people like to meter to determine exactly which ND grad to put on.
But I find it unnecessary.
You can just slide in a 2 or 3 stop grad, look at the pic in live view, check your histogram, adjust your light levels, and take the pic.

And - doing it in Photoshop doesn't do the same thing.

Bobby Boy1 Loc: Leeds West Yorkshire England

Thank's for your comments JR1 and also the link which I know will be very useful. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Bobby Boy1 Loc: Leeds West Yorkshire England

Thank you Go6s for your help.

DaveMM Loc: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Simulating a grad filter in Photoshop from a JPG doesn't work very well, as there is not enough bit depth in the original image to start with. However, if you shoot in RAW, you can do a very good simulation of a grad filter, in many cases better as you can trim the changes afterwards.

1. When you shoot, make sure the sky is not burnt out (checking the histogram on the camera is best for this).

2. Process in RAW, adjusting the exposure to give the darkness you want for the sky, then open in PS or PSE (or any other editor which allows layers).

3. Select the whole picture and copy it to the clipboard.

4. Close the picture without saving, then re-open the original in RAW. Adjust exposure for the rest of the scene and open in PS or PSE.

5. Paste the image from the clipboard into the picture. This will put the darker sky as a layer above the main picture.

6. Add a layer mask into the sky layer and select the gradient tool, black foreground and white background.

7. Click and hold low down on the layer mask and drag to the top (hold down the shift key to drag vertically).

8. The layer mask hides the sky layer where you want the main scene to show.

9. If the result doesn't suit you, use 'Undo' and start dragging from a different spot in the mask and/or stopping before the top.

10. You can also burn in more sky by brushing over the mask with a low opacity black brush, or dodge by using a similar white brush.

Picdude Loc: Ohio

Dave,
Thanks for the step-by-step Photoshop process.

Everyone else,
Thanks for the filter implementation instructions.

I always like a thread that gives both hardware and software solutions to a question.

Skibo Loc: Richmond, Va.

You can also meter for the sky and use fill flash to light the actual subject

Bobby Boy1 Loc: Leeds West Yorkshire England

Thank you Dave for your very helpful suggestions. I will try them and find out which works best for me. Great on UHH I have learned more here than anywhere anywhere.

Bobby Boy1 Loc: Leeds West Yorkshire England

Thank's for the suggestion Skibo. I am new to flash(Not sure how to use it properly yet) so will have to check that one out on the net.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

It can work well in subjects that are close enough.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-balancing-flash-and.html

From my favorite website:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html