Tips for gloomy days

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connersz

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Jamie
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Hi,

I need some advice on how to improve taking photos outside on gloomy days. e.g. how its been here for the past god knows how long.

Grey clouds, grey everything, everything looks lifeless.

Any advice on how to perk them up a bit?
 
Does it have to be outside? Sometimes gloomy days make for very flattering soft light from windows for portrait work. If you do go out maybe take a reflector with silver/gold backing.The gold side really warms up the bounced light.
 
It will help if I have a small subject, but if i am doing a landscape or something bigger then it won't help much.

The reason I am brining it up is that we do a weekly competition type thing where the subject is taken randomly from a list, so we can't wait for the good weather. It is good in the sense that it forces you to think quick about what would look best but I do lack the expertise in doing these dull day photos.
 
For landscape, try to concentrate on somewhere that isn't the sky, include as little sky as possible. Like this :)

8560776800_cf68fd12b7_c.jpg

Lonely road by wuyanxu, on Flickr
 
wuyanxu said:
For landscape, try to concentrate on somewhere that isn't the sky, include as little sky as possible. Like this :)
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Or this


Little Beck at Falling Foss - Explored 17/03/13 by mark_mullen, on Flickr

On a bright sunny day this little beck is a touch awkward to shoot, lots of reflections, big dynamic range between the dark rocks and the sky etc. Shoot it on an overcast day like this and it works.

If it really is that awful 8/8ths grey overcast mushiness like we get a lot of in the UK use your time to recce future locations, being out in the wild, even if there isn't a shot to be had on that day, is always good. Grab an OS and a GPS to store your locations and go for a drive or walk and work out what would work in the future, work out where you need the sun to be coming from so you can calculate what time of year you need to revisit, and what time of day. I have a little book of future locations stored up.
 
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I don't bother shooting on cloudy days.

Ive had light so good in the morning it was electric. I've also had light so dull and flat it was difficult to get any pics.

Any pic taken with a clear sky is likly to be 500% better then any overcast pic. So much so I hardly bother taking outdoors pics unless its at least 4/8 or there is some decent chance or shadows.

Just accepted that even with PP the difference is huge.
 
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Some sports are great to shoot when it is gloomy. You can shooting in any direction without having to worry about shootoing into the sun.
If it is raining it cam be even better for motorsport.

+1 on the waterfalls

Shoot at night. Gloom especially at night will add atmosphere for some city/village scapes.
 
Pegasus2 said:
Any pic taken with a clear sky is likly to be 500% better then any overcast pic.
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Surely that depends what, and why you're shooting? Look at the work of Donovan Wylie. Would that be 500% better with a clear sky?
 
Exactly.. anyone who shoot on clear days only, has a portfolio that's likely to be 500% more boring :)
 
Dull days, perfect time to do some B&W street shooting ... no hindering shadows on people's faces.
 
Jayst84 said:
This of course, is 100% untrue. ;)

There's no such thing as "bad light", just light that is better suited to different purposes.
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Maybe if you are shooting underground.

When I wrote that I was thinking of side by side comparison of the same image. Specificaly I was attending a sporting event over two days, the first was over cast and the second had clear skies all day. I wasen't shooting with the sky in mind, it was more the fact I had uninterupted light.

I had one keeper from the first day and about 8 or 9 from the second, purely because I had shadows and contrast.

If you are shooting a scene with a large proportion of sky in it then yes, I might agree a coudless sky is boring, even though I do like dark blue skies you get with a CPL.


PS: I've noticed you live in AUS and not the UK. This automaticaly makes you unable to comment as you've probably not experianced english weather.
 
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Sorry to drag this back up, I haven't been on over the long weekend.

Pegasus2 said:
Maybe if you are shooting underground.

When I wrote that I was thinking of side by side comparison of the same image. Specificaly I was attending a sporting event over two days, the first was over cast and the second had clear skies all day. I wasen't shooting with the sky in mind, it was more the fact I had uninterupted light.

I had one keeper from the first day and about 8 or 9 from the second, purely because I had shadows and contrast.

If you are shooting a scene with a large proportion of sky in it then yes, I might agree a coudless sky is boring, even though I do like dark blue skies you get with a CPL.
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Not sure I understand the underground comment.

Stock standard sports shots should be easier in overcast light, it makes getting an even exposure on people a lot easier, and you have even uninterrupted light. Whereas with bright sun, you have hard shadows and changing light levels depending on shadows cast across the playing area, or people facing in different directions (facing to or away from the sun).

Anyway, you can get just as good photos in either situation, they'll just be different - and maybe suited to different purposes.

Photos with large amounts of cloudless sky can be just as good and interesting as those with dramatic cloudy skies. Again, it depends purely on the purpose of the image. :thumbs:

Pegasus2 said:
PS: I've noticed you live in AUS and not the UK. This automaticaly makes you unable to comment as you've probably not experianced english weather.
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I'm assuming that's typed with your tounge firmly in your cheek, but for what it's worth: I'm English, and spent 22 years in Lancashire before moving down here. Oh, and despite the press, it does get cloudy here too, infact it's raining right now. ;)
 
What is this 2/8, 4/8, 8/8 rating for skies being used here?

Thanks.
 
I tend to focus more on abstracts and portraits on gloomy days. If the sky is cloudy but textured it can make for some great dramatic shots, but flat lifeless grey sky is kinda meh.

I feel the same about clear blue skies though. As someone who shoots in black and white mostly (film) I need some interest and texture in my sky or it's just flat and lifeless.
 
I've started to view photosharing sites for ideas and inspiration. Also looking through magazines and play guess the set up used to get the shots.
 
None of those shots are shot in the flat grey blanket cloud we tend to get though.

There is either mist or some blue sky, or textured cloud in those.

In the UK more than half of the days overcast.
 
Woods and forests are ok on gloomy days or as mentioned above anything where you don't need to include the sky.
 
shot last week on a gloomy day, grey clouds, grey everything. Find your light, decide how you want to use it.
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Poor weather brings new possibilities. This was a month ago, and the weather was awful:



Would a lovely interesting sky have helped? With this specific picture, I don't think so.
 
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Plies up dog / animal portraits can be great in dull, flat light - it really brings out the detail of the fur.
 
Thing is we have to learn how to adapt to the weather in this country otherwise we'd only be out with the cameras for a few days a year:D
 
connersz said:
Hi,

I need some advice on how to improve taking photos outside on gloomy days. e.g. how its been here for the past god knows how long.

Grey clouds, grey everything, everything looks lifeless.

Any advice on how to perk them up a bit?
Click to expand...

Don't try and 'perk up' a bad photo
Sometimes you just have to accept that there was no shot to be had but selecting a more suitable location such as woodlands or streams work well in flat light.
But how many days is it really crap all day? You only need a few seconds of light on a dark or stormy day to get stunning light so it can be useful just to go anyway never mind the forecast.
Try going to the seaside, as long as there is some definition in the cloud that can be brought out in PP. Try somewhere with an interesting pier, convert to B&W and dodge and burn the sky to bring it out as dark and foreboding.
 
Flat blanket cloud sucks.

Any other weather and I'm happy (except for wind, I hate wind). I've got some ideas I want to try out when it's absolutely throwing it down, but hopefully it doesn't do that until after Easter.
 
I think it's best to "embrace" whatever the weather happens to offer you, even if it is pouring with rain - who wants only "perferct" pictures with nice blue skies and small fluffy white clouds?
Reminds me of my trip to Lyme Regis last week when it did not stop raining the whole time I was there, combined with mist - in fact there was so little light I was pretty much shooting at f/5.6, f/4 & f/3.5 the whole time!
http://www.boliston.com/2014/04/06/rainy-lyme/
 
boliston said:
I think it's best to "embrace" whatever the weather happens to offer you, even if it is pouring with rain - who wants only "perferct" pictures with nice blue skies and small fluffy white clouds?
Snip.
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Agreed, gotta make do with whatever the weather when shooting outdoors (more applicable when on a job though)
 
PMN said:
I've always found this attitude deeply puzzling, since when has great photography had anything to do with clear blue skies and sunshine?
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It's not puzzling me. If you want to go out to shoot flowers or something where you want a strong directional light, with no sky in the picture, dull weather may not be ideal. You may not want to change what you intend to photograph because of your location. As a hobby, many people want to fit it in to their lives and not do the "special effort", "big shoot" every day. or travel long distances to the location that may suit the weather. You might be better off sitting at the PC messing with your jpegs.
Sure, some people don't realise that rain, fog, heavy cloud can make great pictures. But on a dull, flat day, the rest of us may not always have the energy or time to hunt down the right subject.
 
ianp5a said:
It's not puzzling me. If you want to go out to shoot flowers or something where you want a strong directional light, with no sky in the picture, dull weather may not be ideal. You may not want to change what you intend to photograph because of your location. As a hobby, many people want to fit it in to their lives and not do the "special effort", "big shoot" every day. or travel long distances to the location that may suit the weather. You might be better off sitting at the PC messing with your jpegs.
Sure, some people don't realise that rain, fog, heavy cloud can make great pictures. But on a dull, flat day, the rest of us may not always have the energy or time to hunt down the right subject.
Click to expand...

Obviously if you have a specific thing in mind you want to shoot then weather/light can play a big part in whether you get what you want, but that's completely different to outright saying you don't shoot when it's cloudy! It's the absolute point blank 'I will never shoot unless it's perfect weather' mentality that puzzles me, it's hugely self-limiting.
 
ianp5a said:
It's not puzzling me. If you want to go out to shoot flowers or something where you want a strong directional light, with no sky in the picture, dull weather may not be ideal. You may not want to change what you intend to photograph because of your location. As a hobby, many people want to fit it in to their lives and not do the "special effort", "big shoot" every day. or travel long distances to the location that may suit the weather. You might be better off sitting at the PC messing with your jpegs.
Sure, some people don't realise that rain, fog, heavy cloud can make great pictures. But on a dull, flat day, the rest of us may not always have the energy or time to hunt down the right subject.
Click to expand...
True, but the OP was 'Tips for cloudy days' I doubt that Don't bother stay at home was the answer he was looking for.
 
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