the sky

[jamiebonline]

hi everyone,

is it just me or is use of the sky in the frame can really show up that the camera you are using is not very good? it seems phone pictures render the dynamic range between the earth and the sky pretty badly. i don't do a lot of landscapes. more like streetscapes. i avoid the sky for the reason that if it is too featureless it is kind of a waste of space (unless you make a feature of negative space or minimalism) and if it has features like clouds, unless they are dark like storm clouds can be, the sky gets blown out so easily. anyway just an obvious observation, i guess. skies are hard!

 

[Tringa]

Its not that skies are hard for cameras; its the dynamic range that is hard. Expose for the sky and the foreground appears too dark; expose for the foreground and the sky is blown. Either is easy for the camera to record, but not always at the same time.

You can, as you have done, avoid including the sky, or use grad filters to try to balance the light from the sky and foreground, or take two or more shots exposed differently and blend them in pp.

Dave

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•
There are many ways to go around that dynamic range difficulty.
1. you may use the multiple exposure feature of your camera. Up to 7-9 Raws will
be taken at different Evs and a stacking will produce a jpg reflecting all the takes
2. use ND filters in a single RAW shot
3. Use a pixel editor to compose all the takes into an HDR in zone or pixel evaluation
method.

Personally, I use more often the ND filters approach or the zone evaluation method.