"How can I?" technique help

[Gamey]

How can I keep the clouds from being overexposed, the sky its rightfully deep blue and the foregroud bright? It seems if the sky is good, the ground is dark or if the ground is good the sky is gray or white instead of blue.




On the hillside, Manzano, NM.




Built in 1829.




A nearby fence.

[alfredo]

1. The clouds are fine in the second image. High Dynamic Range

is the big new thing. Even the iPod/iPhone is getting into the act.

I can do it in GIMP by bracketing exposure, one under exposed, one over exposed and one normal. A plugin will combine the images into one high dynamic range image.

[Mira]

2. OMG

more to learn.

Or,
maybe I'll just smash my PC along with my camera, Alfredo.
You have gotten so very very knowledgeable and GOOD.

:sarcasm:about the destruction
I'm not here to compete (except in the contests) but to learn and commune with y'all.

[alfredo]

4. I just learned about the technique myself.

[Mira]

3. I like these a whole lot, they are wonderful photos,

especially the 1st and 4th.
Other than that, I like the skies, they look real to me.

[Gamey]

5. Alfredo, thanks for the heads up about GIMP!

but I was looking for something "realtime" or at the moment.

Mira, thanks for your posts as well. I really like this forum.

[alfredo]

9. I'm working with a point and shoot, filters for the most part, have to

Be applied in PP.

[JeffR]

6. Gamey, the only thing blown out in the second photo is the cross, and just barely at that.

I can't pick up any EXIF data from these, so I don't know what camera you used, but a lot of cameras, including many point & shoots, will allow different metering options. You might check what your camera has in terms of these options, and experiment with them. And as mentioned above, bracketed exposures and post-processing can work wonders.

If your camera can output RAW files, it's well worth shooting in RAW despite the larger file sizes. Much more flexibility in post with RAW because the file format preserves much more dynamic range than JPGs.

[ManiacJoe]

7. Gradient Neutral Density (GND) filters.

When two parts of your picture contain a dynamic range that exceeds the abilities of your camera, you can use one or more GND filters to gently darken the bright part of the scene. This is best done using rectangle filters that fit into a Cokin-type holder; this allows for the filter to be moved in the holder so that the dark to light boundary happens where you need, which is almost never in the center of the frame.

[JeffR]

8. Great advice

and I'd add that at least under some conditions, a circular polarizing filter would accomplish the same thing, but only with the predominant light source confined to a certain range of angles to the lens.

[BrightKnight]

10. histogram, bracket and possibly replace

Careful exposure control can prevent some problems. Learn to read the histogram feature on your camera. Here is a link to a decent article on exposure control in digital photography: http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/guides/digital/histogram_101/index.html

Bracket your exposures. Just take one shot that is a half stop over exposed and another that is a half stop under exposed. Sometimes you can find enough shadow and highlight detail in a bracketed version to get a decent print.

The fried sky problem is as old as photography. If all else fails, simply replace the sky with the sky from a bracketed exposure or from somewhere else.

[h8okra]

11. Excellent advice N/T