It's An Overcast Day

[Ashanali]

Nah, just think of the clouds as one great big light diffuser

[Ripley]

I hate taking shots in the middle of the day when the sun is high as the lighting casts unflattering shadows.

Taking photos on a rainy day can be great for some photos. I also hate that white out sky, it's ok if the sky is filled with rain clouds, can add to the drama of a shot.

I took this shot last month on hols in Scotland one rainy late morning. The rain had just stopped and we stopped to get a hot chocolate at a truck stop and I spotted this little guy which I was told by one of the truckdrivers there, was a male chaffinch. Can't remember what the shutter speed is, but my lens does not have IS in it, alas.

ETA: shutter speed below is 1/200 @ f/4, focal length 200mm, ISO 400

or if the clouds are grey and it's not a white out, you can still take scenic pics

Lens: Sigma 17-70 shutter speed 1/20 @ f/16 (rested the lens on a rock)

This was taken on a cloudy day in Scotland with NO fluffy grey clouds. I don't know what this raptor is - an osprey? Wishing I had a longer lens.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Ripley

[Ripley]

Can you tell I'm (trying to) do all my holiday snaps today?

This was also taken in very late afternoon cloudy light, in fact there was a blustery storm coming in and the wind was whipping up. The light was quite dark. I changed the white balance to Daylight as I think the cooler tones work better with the swan's plumage. The background was the grey water of a pond.

Swan in Hyde Park, London.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Ripley

[Luke W]

Very nice shots Ripley.

Today, overcast, before the sun came out

[Ripley]

love the doggie portraits, Luke.

I know what you mean about white balance on a gloomy day.

This day was also very grey and gloomy when I took this photo, I remember as it was mid afternoon but again, day was grey and windy (it's Scotland, it's always a bit windy ). He's an owl, outdoors in overcast light.

I set the WB to cloudy to warm it up a bit here:

and this is just leaving the WB to Auto on a low light day.

This may not be the exact same shot but WB was ''Auto'' here, so it was what my camera's metering used given the darker conditions.

So the birds are underexposed. In this case, to get detail in the bird, you want to expose so the sky is brighter and you get more detail in the birds. Typically this means using exposure compensation (+1, +2), while checking the histogram to make sure the sky doens't end up pure white

.

For the shot of the swan above, I dialed in +1 exposure compensation so the feathers wouldn't go show up grey. I remember when I had zero idea about taking photos 2 years ago (I mean zero!) and I met some National Geographic photographers who were parked on stools with huge lenses, taking photos of wild flamingos in this wetland area in France. They told me my flamingo shots would be underexposed left on the Auto setting (which is what I was using back then, or sports mode ) and I thought, "Huh?" - now I know what they are talking about.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Ripley

[Kirislin]

I hate taking shots in the middle of the day when the sun is high as the lighting casts unflattering shadows.

Taking photos on a rainy day can be great for some photos. I also hate that white out sky, it's ok if the sky is filled with rain clouds, can add to the drama of a shot.

I took this shot last month on hols in Scotland one rainy late morning. The rain had just stopped and we stopped to get a hot chocolate at a truck stop and I spotted this little guy which I was told by one of the truckdrivers there, was a male chaffinch. Can't remember what the shutter speed is, but my lens does not have IS in it, alas.

or if the clouds are grey and it's not a white out, you can still take scenic pics

This was taken on a cloudy day in Scotland with NO fluffy grey clouds. I don't know what this raptor is - an osprey? Wishing I had a longer lens.

beautiful beautiful pics Ripley. the osprey one is especially interesting to me as it looks like it was similar conditions to my eagle one this morning exept you were much more successful. Can you tell me what the setting were for that one so I might have a chance of gettting it right should it happen again here.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Kirislin

[Ripley]

Sure. But I got rid of my kit lens and bought a more expensive lens and that has made a big difference to my photos. I wish I had enough money for one with IS though, but I don't

It was a grab shot. I was walking around some castle grounds and hear raptors calling, stuck around for a little while and this bloke came over the horizon, calling to his female whom I couldn't see, but could hear.

I only have a 70-200mm too.

Here are the settings:

Aperture f.5.6, shutter 1/4000, which is a bit overkill for shutter speed but it was late morning on a bright overcast day and my camera was already on f/5.6 for a previous shot and I didn't change it, just aimed and clicked when I spotted the raptor.

ETA: Used AV mode.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Ripley

[chezzyr]

Ripley: to throw a spanner in the works I think I prefer the colour of the 'auto' Owl.

It seems cleaner/clearer but that is probably an optical illusion.

I didn't get out today, lazy one catching up after my trip. Might just hang

out here for a while and see what people have been up to.

Edited November 1, 2008 by chezzyr

[ruthless]

I posted mine in the Photo Challenge thread

[Ripley]

Ripley: to throw a spanner in the works I think I prefer the colour of the 'auto' Owl.

It seems cleaner/clearer but that is probably an optical illusion

Yeah, not sure what I prefer. I don't think I've applied any sharpening at all to the Cloudy WB shot. I also experimented with Tungsten as it gave the impression that owl shot was taken at twilight/early evening so you can really play around with it, most of the time I leave it on Auto as the 30D's metering system is pretty good unless faced with really tricky conditions.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Ripley

[chezzyr]

I was going to say it looks like its doing a pretty good job

[Ripley]

How much do I love my new 70-200mm lens, chezzyr? Thank god I got it when the AUD was hovering around USD 90 cents! (Got my boss to go to B&H in New York in May and pick it up for me on his business trip there).

It only stops down to f/4 so it's not a fast lens but I've only had it 'hunt' once on me and that was in very low light conditions.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Ripley

[Kirislin]

Sure. But I got rid of my kit lens and bought a more expensive lens and that has made a big difference to my photos. I wish I had enough money for one with IS though, but I don't

It was a grab shot. I was walking around some castle grounds and hear raptors calling, stuck around for a little while and this bloke came over the horizon, calling to his female whom I couldn't see, but could hear.

I only have a 70-200mm too.

Here are the settings:

Aperture f.5.6, shutter 1/4000, which is a bit overkill for shutter speed but it was late morning on a bright overcast day and my camera was already on f/5.6 for a previous shot and I didn't change it, just aimed and clicked when I spotted the raptor.

ETA: Used AV mode.

sigh, I am so confused the settings are much the same as I had mine on for my eagles and the weather conditions looked similar, the differences are kit lens, I set WB to cloudy, and ME I suppose the eagles could've been further away too, but even so................

I am reluctant to go buying more expensive lenses until I gain a good understanding of what I am doing. And how do I even know how much is due to the limtations of the equipment I have or my inexperience? could an experienced photographer have gotten better pics with my camera? Probably....maybe. It's so frustrating, I think I stuffed up an amazing opportunity to get those eagles yesterday. Now, where's that wrist slashing emoticon.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Kirislin

[chezzyr]

Kirislin, How long have you had the camera/lenses?

How much general photography are you doing with them?

(I take it you photograph other things and not just "tricky" subjects like running dogs and eagles in the distance).

I have suggested this before and wondering if you tried it yet. Actually finding a stationary subject

eg in your backyard, setting the camera on a sturdy surface (or tripod) and try taking photos

of that subject at various focal lengths and various f stops. This, in my opinion, tests the lens out

and sees what f stops and focal length it "prefers".

Various things could be going on....examples:

-camera shake (your hands/breathing)

- the lens could be soft at the extreme end eg 300mm (have you tried it at 250mm, 280mm etc instead??)

- the lens could be 'soft' at 5.6

- not getting the actual subject in focus (the eagle one you cropped looks ok/better apart from the silhouetting

whereas to me the others don't look in focus?)

Edited November 1, 2008 by chezzyr

[Kirislin]

Kirislin, How long have you had the camera/lenses?

How much general photography are you doing with them?

(I take it you photograph other things and not just "tricky" subjects like running dogs and eagles in the distance).

I have suggested this before and wondering if you tried it yet. Actually finding a stationary subject

eg in your backyard, setting the camera on a sturdy surface (or tripod) and try taking photos

of that subject at various focal lengths and various f stops. This, in my opinion, tests the lens out

and sees what f stops and focal length it "prefers".

Various things could be going on....examples:

-camera shake (your hands/breathing)

- the lens could be soft at the extreme end eg 300mm (have you tried it at 250mm, 280mm etc instead??)

- the lens could be 'soft' at 5.6

- not getting the actual subject in focus (the eagle one you cropped looks ok/better apart from the silhouetting

whereas to me the others don't look in focus?)

I dont recall this but it might be my project for today, once I get back from work. I dont have a tripod but I'll work something out. thanks

Edited November 1, 2008 by Kirislin

[chezzyr]

I just use/used a colourful soccer ball set up on a plastic chair and put the camera on a table.

You don't 'need' a tripod if you have a table you can use

I was going to post up some soccer ball samples but they must be on another drive

and I am heading out today.

[Ashanali]

Sure. But I got rid of my kit lens and bought a more expensive lens and that has made a big difference to my photos. I wish I had enough money for one with IS though, but I don't

It was a grab shot. I was walking around some castle grounds and hear raptors calling, stuck around for a little while and this bloke came over the horizon, calling to his female whom I couldn't see, but could hear.

I only have a 70-200mm too.

Here are the settings:

Aperture f.5.6, shutter 1/4000, which is a bit overkill for shutter speed but it was late morning on a bright overcast day and my camera was already on f/5.6 for a previous shot and I didn't change it, just aimed and clicked when I spotted the raptor.

ETA: Used AV mode.

sigh, I am so confused the settings are much the same as I had mine on for my eagles and the weather conditions looked similar, the differences are kit lens, I set WB to cloudy, and ME I suppose the eagles could've been further away too, but even so................I am reluctant to go buying more expensive lenses until I gain a good understanding of what I am doing. And how do I even know how much is due to the limtations of the equipment I have or my inexperience? could an experienced photographer have gotten better pics with my camera? Probably....maybe. It's so frustrating, I think I stuffed up an amazing opportunity to get those eagles yesterday. Now, where's that wrist slashing emoticon.

Your eagles could also (and quite likely) have been in a very different angle. Remember that photography is essentially 'painting with light' so if you have bad light, you need to work harder to creat a good image.

[rubiton]

Kirislin - chezzyr has given you excellent suggestions to learn about how to control your camera. 1/4000th of a second is way too fast for cloudy conditions and 200 iso is way too low for cloudy conditions.

However it does depend on the subject - if you are taking photos of say horses you want bright sunny conditions for the best result (horses unless light grey/white suck away the light). I took photos on Friday when it was freezing, dark and cold then a few of the same horses on Sat when it was hot sunny and 26 degrees. The Saturday results were far better.

With the horses in dark conditions I will go to 640 iso or 800 iso with the aperture on 5.6 and speed on 1/1000th (I only use manual settings - will explain why below) - white balance is left on auto. This is with a 70-200mm or the 100-400m whichever im using at the time and checking the light meter in the camera often as that will indicate when cloudy days start to get darker.

If you use an auto setting the camera will often choose settings based on the lightest object in the image often the sky and this will just make something that is dark turn into a brown blob. I prefer to get it right when taking the photo rather than relying on photoshop to fix my errors.

[Ripley]

Did you get out today with the camera and/or dogs, ruthless?

Today (Sunday) was also cloudy, with overcast conditions. OH and I went for a drive as I needed to get out of the house. We took the 4WD and went along the Discovery trail just out of Kurrajong and into the Wollomi Nat Park bit that is used by 4WDs and horseriders.

We met a couple of horse riders at a camping ground and then did this hike to a waterfall and cave. The cave was extremely dark so exposure was a problem as it's a small cave under the falls.

Unfortunately the lookout we walked to was more like a white out due to the overcast weather.

Here are a few from today, in today's flat grey conditions. Waterfall and cave on a hike from Burralow campsite

We drove on to another campsite along Wheeny Creek and there was a very friendly lorikeet there. I know you shouldn't but we gave her some bread soaked in apple juice.

She was intent on preening my OH

When we left, she flew out of the tree and over to land on us and we had to put her back in the tree twice. I just hope she wasn't someone's pet and just friendly. The campsite had a couple of campervans camping there by the creek.

Because the day was grey and light was low later in the afernoon I cranked up the ISO to 640 but it resulted in a bit of noise in this shot

Edited November 2, 2008 by Ripley

[Guest Clover]

It was overcast here aswell today, so we didn't head out til late evening (around 6pm). I managed to get a couple of nice shots of the dogs exploring a new walking area (which i now love, it was great).

Kirislin i just randomly snap away now, and have been playing a lot with settings. It has been a bit hit and miss but has been fun testing everything out .