One of the most commonly asked questions by digital photographers is how they can keep the sky from looking so overexposed and washed out in their images. The photo to the right is a perfect example — a very pretty landscape, but a painfully overexposed sky. Most of the time the sky is going to be the brightest part of your scene on sunny days. When we look at a scene with our eyes we’re able to see the deep blue sky above the landscape, as well as the detail of the landscape itself. Unfortunately, the digital sensors in our cameras don’t have the dynamic range that our eyes do, meaning they can’t capture the full range of tones that we can see, and if the difference in brightness of the sky and the land are simply too far apart, it’s very difficult for both elements of the image to be captured properly.
Whenever possible, it’s always better to get things done right to begin with. The following methods are a few ways to ensure your photos are properly exposed with nice blue skies! Whichever solution you use, your results will be improved by shooting in RAW and using your camera’s manual settings, giving you full control over the exposure.
One problem for myself is capturing the blue sky. If the sun is too bright, your camera wants to automatically white-out it out. Or it seems to be that way. But what about the object you are taking a photograph of? Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO will bring you to exactly, where you need to be.