Photographers may be the only people with a negative opinion about blue skies! But who can blame us? Strong sunlight doesn’t complement many subjects very well – if anything, quite the opposite – and a blank, blue expanse doesn’t usually add much interest at the top of a landscape photo.
But as much as I’d love to control the weather, part of the challenge and joy of landscape photography is that you have to work with the hand you’ve been dealt. Often, this will include a cloudless sky. In fact, I’ve been on two landscape photography trips recently Every day The sky was completely cloudless. What’s worse, these were Photography Life’s two biggest workshops of the year! Did our groups take this as a signal to give up and go home? Or did we find a way to make the most of the blue skies above?
Luckily, everyone still managed to take good photos, including some that wouldn’t have been possible on a cloudy day. In today’s article, I would like to go over the main techniques that allowed us to take good photos during these two trips despite (or because of) the sky. Maybe you’ll find them useful next time you’re in a beautiful place with no clouds overhead!
1. Shoot a narrow view
A classic method of landscape photography is to shoot with a wide-angle lens to capture the sweeping expanse of a gorgeous landscape. But on a cloudless day, this can result in a large area of ​​empty space at the top of your frame – not to mention all the harsh shadows cast on the landscape from the direction of the sun.
So, why not focus on a narrower view? If the sky is not in your photo, only the light on the landscape matters. You don’t need to include the sky in your composition if the sky isn’t helping the photo.
I like shooting with a telephoto lens on a cloudless day. The long focal length allows me to select a small section of the landscape that is as interesting as possible, without including unwanted details (such as empty sky) that may take away from the photo.
Also, don’t forget to point your feet. Some of my favorite landscape photos came from these two trips because I was looking for intimate landscapes rather than grandiose photographs. Subjects like this work great no matter what the sky looks like.
2. Convert to black and white
Harsh shadows and textures often don’t work perfect for color photography. My friend and fellow Photography Life writer Adam Sheridan is fond of saying that “the naked sun is the greatest desaturator of color.” But who says you need to capture colors?
Black and white photos often look great on a very sunny day. You can get dramatic shadows and textures that are more pronounced than usual, and you don’t have to worry about dull colors appearing in your photo. Especially combined with the previous tip, you can get some very nice B&W abstracts on a cloudless day.
My best advice for this type of photo is to not think of it as a photo about your topic – Instead, think of it as a picture of shadows, shapes and textures.
3. Shoot before sunrise or after sunset
The afternoon sun is known for its harsh nature, especially on a cloudless day. But before the sun rises, or after the sun sets? That’s a different story.
When the sun is below the horizon, it won’t cast harsh light – whether there are clouds or not. Instead, you’ll get beautiful colors and soft shadows, allowing for some beautiful light in your landscape photos.
At these times of the day, you can also consider including the sky in your photo and get a beautiful gradient of color. I am especially fond of belt of venusWhere the Earth’s shadow falls on its own atmosphere. This time of day doesn’t last long, but it can lead to some amazing photos – photos you can’t get any other way, including on a beautiful cloudy day.
4. Look for the moon
A cloudless day can be the best time to experiment with the art of moon photography! As a landscape photographer I always love the opportunity to photograph our celestial neighbor. Sometimes, I even secretly hope for a cloudless sky for this very reason.
One potential challenge when photographing the Moon is getting plenty of detail on both the Moon and the landscape. This is only easy to accomplish when the Moon is slightly higher in the sky, with a brighter landscape around it (as in the photo above).
Although you can overcome this limitation with HDR or other image blending techniques, I would also say that you can easily adapt to it! A blown out moon is not necessarily a bad thing in landscape photography. It just depends on the image.
5. Try Milky Way Photography
There’s one type of landscape photography that almost always benefits from a cloudless day: Milky Way photography.
Actually, I have a funny story about it. there was only one time The sky was filled with clouds during both trips, and that was at night when we were photographing the Milky Way in Colorado! can you believe it?
The good news is that we had a clear view of the Milky Way (see below) for more than an hour before the clouds moved in. And the shape of the clouds was also interesting which was not so bad for photography. But really, what a strange fate!
Sony a7R V + FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II @ 16mm, ISO 3200, 15 sec, f/2.8
6. Embrace the blue sky
You might not want to see blue skies in your landscape photos most of the time, but who’s to say that always has to be the case? Sometimes, for various reasons, that blue expanse at the top of the frame is exactly what your photo needs.
For example, I think it’s a nice complement to the rest of this minimalist photo:
While I won’t deny that some puffy clouds might look good in there, it’s a good reminder that sometimes a blank sky won’t hurt your photo at all. Like all things in photography, it’s all about the mood you want to convey. Although you wouldn’t want an empty sky all the time, or perhaps even most of the time, sometimes it suits the landscape better than anything else.
And there you have it – six different approaches you can adopt for landscape photography on a cloudless day! I hope this article has given you some food for thought as a landscape photographer. If you have any questions or suggestions of your own for landscape photography under blue sky, let me know in the comments.