Reply To: Exposing the Sky

[dont.care]

Under expose the sky by 2 stops and use fill flash.

As for how effective it is? um.. it’s pretty effective.. spot meter, aim for the sky, under expose and lock your exposure, take your shot.. your cameras ETTL or CLS will deal with exposing for your subject.. depending on how bright it is, you may need multiple flash guns .. I like to use 2 600’s and an st-e3 with 2 24×24 soft boxes, works like a charm.. Groups? Just add speed lights :D..

Btw, when skies are dull and plain with no detail; masking it out (if done correctly) and replacing it isn’t bad. You just have to be careful to not have blown highlights otherwise your small details will suffer with a lot of clipped / rough edges and will look like shit. refine edge is your friend as well.. photoshop isn’t a bad thing you know.. It’s bad when you suck, but that’s neither here nor there..

I find it odd that you are even asking this being that you are a working profession photographer.  but anyway, enjoy.