{"id":481977,"date":"2022-02-01T07:28:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T12:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lightstalking.com\/?p=481977"},"modified":"2022-02-01T07:29:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T12:29:04","slug":"blue-skies-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lightstalking.com\/blue-skies-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Blue Skies Are Not Always Good For Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You look out of the window, the sun is out, there\u2019s not a cloud in the sky. You grab your camera, head to a photogenic location. You then spend several hours trying to work out why your compositions in blue skies photography are just not working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are told early in our photographic journeys that blue skies are good for photography. The default white balance is 5500, the mean degrees kelvin of cloudless midday in northern America. And of course, some shots look great with a blue sky. When I worked as an estate agency in London, we were often told that the exteriors need to be shot with a blue sky. This often proved quite a challenge in a wintery London. At least until the agents accepted that we could replace the sky in Photoshop. But I digress, today I want to look at why blue skies are not always good for photography.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A perfect blue sky does nothing for this shot. By Florian Settele on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Negative Space In Blue Skies Photography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Negative space is a compositional rule that uses a large area of the image with nothing in it, to draw attention to our subject. A clear blue sky can often be used to create a negative space image. However, when we are shooting a more general type of image, using different compositional rules, the blue sky can be an unwanted negative space<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the sky has no definition to it, our eye is drawn towards it rather than the subject. This is especially so if our subject is quite complex, for example, a landscape. We naturally try to find a balance in an image so our eye wanders through the complex landscape, then arrives at nothing. In search of something in the sky, our eye wanders out of the frame of the image and is lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prevent this, we need something in that sky to stop the eye from passing straight through. This could be as simple as a solitary, white fluffy cloud. It could be as complex as an approaching storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A blue sky can lead to unwanted negative space. By Oliver Cole on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reflections Everywhere<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The direct light of a cloudless blue sky can cause havoc with reflections. That\u2019s only the reflections you can see, such as in glass water and metal. It\u2019s also the more unexpected reflections such as that found in foliage. Leaves in particular are highly reflective. Shooting a forest or wood on a bright, sunny, cloudless day can give a very flat-looking image. This is something you might not have expected given the direct strong light.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflections can dramatically reduce contrast in our shots. Whilst it is true that we can counter some of them using a polarizer<\/a>, we cannot get rid of them all.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n