Not so Blue sky

Ok this is probably a really dumb question but, why do all my photos of countyside scenery end up with White sky's. It can be a superb day with only a few clouds about but the Blue ends up White

I have a EOS 450 with the standars 18-55 lense, I've tried on full auto, landscape, AV under ecposed, AV over exposed, Raw, jog.... you name it I've tried it.. I think

Ant advice would be most welcome

Step one....snag the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson and give it a read. That will help.

Step two....Shoot in RAW....dial in some exposure compensation.

Step three....experiment. Digital is inexpensive in this regards....try lots of shots...use manual...start with the metered exposure and take it down one step at a time...increase your shutter speed one notch...shoot...then reduce your aperture opening one notch....shoot.....up your shutter speed another notch....shoot....and so on.

Welcome to POTN....lots of good reading material here as well. Don't hesitate to ask questions...

I can't give you any better advice than Dan already has, but welcome to POTN!

Woolburr wrote in post #5714084
Step one....snag the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson and give it a read. That will help.

Book now ordered so I'll hopefuly get some ideas there.

Woolburr wrote in post #5714084
Step two....Shoot in RAW....dial in some exposure compensation.

Step three....experiment. Digital is inexpensive in this regards....try lots of shots...use manual...start with the metered exposure and take it down one step at a time...increase your shutter speed one notch...shoot...then reduce your aperture opening one notch....shoot.....up your shutter speed another notch....shoot....and so on.

Welcome to POTN....lots of good reading material here as well. Don't hesitate to ask questions...

Thanks Dan, I'll try that this weekend and see how things go... it sounds like trial and error is the answer

Thanks for the welcome guys.

There is a great thread from Robert about understanding metering..You would get answer for your question here: Understanding Camera Metering

There is a lot of good info in there. But I suggest that you first look at Post #362before you decide to get bogged down in metering modes, Exposure Compensation, & guessing "What's my meter thinking this time?"

Phew what a mine field.... but a most welcome mine field.

A steep learning curve is being learnt today, many thanks again guys

You can always bracket the exposure and blend the images in photoshop.. this was ONE shot, processed twice for sky and ground, and pasted together - I think rased the white sky to let the blue one show through.

Try shooting shutter priority (TV on the setting dial). Look for a shutter speed that is fast enough to generate a blue sky (fast shutter speeds underexpose and oversaturate the sky). You might be able to find a manual setting that will reach a decent compromise between blue sky and properly exposed terrain.

Depending on the SLR, you might cheat by going into the settings menu and increasing the saturation.

The time of day also has a lot to do with it. Take the same shot very early in the morning, again in mid day and again as the sun is going down and you will end up with a subject that has 3 different moods to it. Also go with Dans advice

A CPL filter may help and GND filther can also help.

If the sky is blown out but the rest of the image is correctly exposed, then you need to either bracket and blend or shoot at a different time of day as has already been mentioned.

If you want the sky correctly exposed, then meter off of it and lock the exposure, recompose, and shoot. Just don't point it at the sun .

e-k

Other than the things mentioned there are two other ways to get nice blue skies. Try a circular polarizing filter. It blues up the skis nicely. If its hazy out you might also try a graduated ND filter. It will darken the skies while not darkening the landscape.

gjl711 wrote in post #5721736
...you might also try a graduated ND filter. It will darken the skies while not darkening the landscape.

FINALLY!

What took so long?!?

A graduated ND filter should be in the kit of every landscape shooter.

Rad

Radtech1 wrote in post #5723894
FINALLY!

What took so long?!?

A graduate ND filter should be in the kit of every landscape shooter.

Rad

Agreed, although I think a better understanding of exposure and more experience with shooting is wise before jumping in to using them. That can certainly be done quickly, but if you start using them before you understand the concept of exposure and the limitations of your camera (dynamic range) then you'll have problems I've seen many repeat which may involve buying the wrong grand NDs or using the wrong one (too strong for example may make your foreground look too bright which can be very odd looking!).