Moody skies
1
COMPOSETHEIMAGEIdeally,useanultrawide-anglelenssuchas
16mm(full-frame)or10mm(APS-C),ora kitlensoffering24mm
or18mm,respectively.UseLiveViewsoyoucangeta clearviewof the
sceneandareabletousethevirtualhorizontoensurea straight
horizon.Composeyourshotusingtherule-of-thirdswiththeskyin
the top third of the frame, whether in landscape or portrait orientation.3
ADDEXPOSURECOMPENSATIONIt’stimeto useexposurecompensation
to ensurethattheshadowsin theforegroundaren’tclippedandthat
theexposureis correct.Usethehistogramto assessthis,butnotethatif
onlya tinypartof thehistogramis touchingtheleft-handsidethisisn’ta
problem,becauseit meansonlya verysmallshadowareahasbeen
clipped. We added one stop of overexposure to lighten the foreground.5
FINALEXPOSUREASSESSMENTWhenevaluatingyourexposure,don’t
relyontheLCDimage– it’sthehistogramthatprovidesanaccurate
reading.Hereyou’llseeanevendistributionof toneswithneitherend
of thehistogramtouchingthesides,meaningbothshadowsand
highlightdetailhavebeenmaintained.Youcanaddextragradsto
increase the moodiness of the sky, but take care not to over-darken it.2
CAMERASETTINGSSetthecameratoaperture-priorityat f/11withISO
setat 100.I optedforf/13becauseit’s1/3-stopnarrowerthanf/11
soit providesslightlymoredepth-of-fieldwithoutintroducing
diffraction.NowsetthemeteringmodetoEvaluativeandmanually
focusa thirdof thedistanceintothescenebeyondtheforeground
interest to achieve a large depth-of-field so the whole scene is in focus.4
INSERTND GRADAttachyourfilterholdertothefrontof thelensand
selecttheappropriatefiltertouse.Theeasiestwaytoassessthe
filterstrengthyouneedis totakea meterreadingof theskyandthe
ground,andmakea noteof thedifference.Thedifferencewouldbe
thestrengthof gradthatyou’dneed.If thedifferenceis a higher
amount than a single grad, you can stack them to increase strength.38 DigitalSLR PhotographyDecember 2019
1 )NO FILTER:WithnoND
gradanda correctly-exposed
foreground,skydetailis virtually
nonexistentandis rendered
washedoutwithskyhighlights
andmidtonesblown.
2 )ND GRAD:TheNDgrad
reduceslightenteringthelens
in theskyarea.Theresulting
underexposurehasbroughtthe
skyin linewiththeforeground
tocapturealldetailperfectly.
3 )ND FILTERS:NDfiltersarea
popularchoiceforlengthening
exposuretimetoblurclouds,
butwhenthecloudsarethick
andtravellingacrosstheframe
theresultcanbea greysludge
that doesn’t look great.FILTERCOMPARISON
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