White skies?

I think this is probably a simple question for someone with alot more knowledge of photography than me. So, here goes. Why do my skies always come out white? The sky can be any color of pretty blue to my eye, but in my photos they're always white. How come? What am I doing wrong?

What you are seeing is haze if you look hard enough you will see that the blue sky has some white to it near the horizon at times. But you are also most likely exposing off the foreground as well. This will cause the sky to over expose but the problem is if you compensate for it using the sky to meter the subject will be dark. First are you using a Circular Polarizer? If not get one you can dial it in thil the sky gets bluer, but dont go nuts on it because then the sky will look too blue and artifical. Try metering at a point near the sky but not in it then use that for the subject, you will get close to a happy medium there.

Joves wrote: What you are seeing is haze if you look hard enough you will see that the blue sky has some white to it near the horizon at times. But you are also most likely exposing off the foreground as well. This will cause the sky to over expose but the problem is if you compensate for it using the sky to meter the subject will be dark. First are you using a Circular Polarizer? If not get one you can dial it in thil the sky gets bluer, but dont go nuts on it because then the sky will look too blue and artifical. Try metering at a point near the sky but not in it then use that for the subject, you will get close to a happy medium there.

You could always try a neutral density graduated filter, meter off the foreground then slide the filter on with the dark side at or above the horizon.

The sky could be over expose. The camera is exposing for your darks/shadows which in return will brighten your sky.

Joves wrote: What you are seeing is haze if you look hard enough you will see that the blue sky has some white to it near the horizon at times. But you are also most likely exposing off the foreground as well. This will cause the sky to over expose but the problem is if you compensate for it using the sky to meter the subject will be dark. First are you using a Circular Polarizer? If not get one you can dial it in thil the sky gets bluer, but dont go nuts on it because then the sky will look too blue and artifical. Try metering at a point near the sky but not in it then use that for the subject, you will get close to a happy medium there.

It sounds like you may be exposing for the foreground which, if darker than the sky (it generally is) will overexpose the sky. What camera are you using and in what mode. Double check your camera settings. Don't be afraid to experiment.

I'm shooting with a Canon Rebel XSi. There is a setting on the camera called "white balance". Will that help?

I'm guessing here... I think a UV filter might help. Fill flash might be the answer in some cases. Try these things in addition to the sage advice given above.

cindy lou wrote: I'm shooting with a Canon Rebel XSi. There is a setting on the camera called "white balance". Will that help?

White balance is a standard that controls your color set. White balance makes your whites white.


It's a matter of exposure. Under expose a shot and you'll see your sky will be normal and full of color.

The above users have offered great solutions.

GND's, Polarizers and knowing what time of the day to shoot are vital.

cindy lou wrote: I'm shooting with a Canon Rebel XSi. There is a setting on the camera called "white balance". Will that help?

Not really. White Balance is for when you have unusual lighting conditions. (It shoot an XSI). Aim your camera slightly towards the sky to let mere light in (closes down the aperture) and press the shutter halfway. When aim at your subject and press the rest of the way. Experiment with this at a couple of angle. You will see a difference. As noted above, a circular polarizer filter will help also.

If your camera is set to spot expose on a center point you might switch over to a exposure mode that will average the entire frame or perhaps strike a median with a weighted exposure taking the average and then lean towards the center spot.

John said... When aim at your subject and press the rest of the way. Experiment with this at a couple of angle. You will see a difference. - Great tip John. I taught this to the wife some time ago.

The automatic setting on your camera is probably your best bet to stick with right now.

Keep in mind that the human eye is capable of reading both the very light, very bright portions of a scene as well as the very dark areas. Digital sensors don't yet have the same 'dynamic range' as your eyes, so the camera generally isn't able to record many of the details in the very bright areas and a lot of the shaded areas come out black. You can learn how to manually set your camera to offset alot of these problems, it does take some time and practice.

Cindy, it's not a silly question at all, but a very common one. It's an easy one to fix once you understand why it's happening.

Your camera light meter reads the light bounding off the subject. Because different subjects return different amounts of light, the camera tries to average it all out; the results are often not what the photographer wanted.

If you really want to understand this, I would suggest doing some reading, especially about "reflected" meter readings (those taking by the camera) and "incident" memter readisng (those determined by a separate meter.)