Gray skies blown out on my Cañón 70D: I am experiencing blown out skies when I take photographs under gray sky situations. Blue skies are fine and skies with defined cloud patterns...

Carlosu

I am experiencing blown out skies when I take photographs under gray sky situations. Blue skies are fine and skies with defined cloud patterns also come out ok. The problem is only with uniform gray skies. I have seen advice, suggesting a graduated filter, but I wonder if there is a way to address the problem in settings.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Adjust your exposure, either with a smaller aperture or faster shutter speed. Depending on your shooting mode, you can use the Exposure Compensation dial and let the camera decide which parameter to adjust. Maybe the best way to provide actionable instruction is to see an example and the embedded EXIF. Simply attach a blown-out example JPEG, straight from the camera, being sure to store the example file. From an actual image, we can inspect the parameters, rather than you needing to describe.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

As CHG CANON stated, attach a photo to let everyone actually see the problem. In the meantime, what exposure method are you using? Evaluative? Partial? Spot? Center Weighted? That alone can make a big difference.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Carlosu wrote:

I am experiencing blown out skies when I take photographs under gray sky situations. Blue skies are fine and skies with defined cloud patterns also come out ok. The problem is only with uniform gray skies. I have seen advice, suggesting a graduated filter, but I wonder if there is a way to address the problem in settings.

I would think that the problem is that your camera is metering on something other than the sky, I believe that camera will do HDR and that could be an option for you, cameras are not like your eye, they can't make the same adjustments that your brain can, but you can adjust EV on your camera but then you may be unhappy with other elements of the scene being under exposed. Personally I would probably shoot RAW and make adjustments in post.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Carlosu wrote:

I am experiencing blown out skies when I take photographs under gray sky situations. Blue skies are fine and skies with defined cloud patterns also come out ok. The problem is only with uniform gray skies. I have seen advice, suggesting a graduated filter, but I wonder if there is a way to address the problem in settings.

Setting, in particular exposure mode. Please post a picture with download and the exif intact.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Carlosu wrote:

I am experiencing blown out skies when I take photographs under gray sky situations. Blue skies are fine and skies with defined cloud patterns also come out ok. The problem is only with uniform gray skies. I have seen advice, suggesting a graduated filter, but I wonder if there is a way to address the problem in settings.

Shoot raw, meter the sky with the camera's spotmeter, add two stops to the reading. See if that works for you.

Carlosu

Thanks for all the feedback. I will post an unedited image as soon as I have access to my lap top, because my image transfer program (Canon Image Transfer) shrinks the files on my IPAD and I am out of the Country right now.

Nicholas DeSciose

There are at least 47 ways to adjust this in Photoshop, As well as opening the image in raw. You could even replace the sky with a blue sky and clouds. The art and craft of image making has never been better.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

Is your subject properly exposed ... that's what counts.

NormanTheGr8 Loc: Racine, Wisconsin

Just for the heck of it next time you are faced with that flipover to auto take a pick or 2 and that look at what the settings the camera used were.
flat grey clouds have alot more/stronger light coming throughthan one thinks

gator55

Try framing your photo to where you leave the sky out of the picture. Concentrate on the subject at hand. Not much you can do with a featureless portion of the picture. Many times there is too much contrast between the sky and what is your subject for the camera meter to balance out.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Carlosu wrote:

I am experiencing blown out skies when I take photographs under gray sky situations. Blue skies are fine and skies with defined cloud patterns also come out ok. The problem is only with uniform gray skies. I have seen advice, suggesting a graduated filter, but I wonder if there is a way to address the problem in settings.

Its not your camera its you. You have to adjust for it, a blue sky (actually close to an 18% gray) is certainly not the same as a gray sky. Set a different aperture or adjust your shutter speed according to what mode you're shooting in!