A cloudy day? Perfect! ⋆ Mike Muizebelt Photography

Two Cape buffalo in Kruger National Park

A cloudy day? A perfect moment for intense colors!

Don't let anyone tell you not to take photos on cloudy days. These types of days certainly give you a challenge as a photographer, but it is not without reason that they are also referred to as “natural softbox”
If you keep a few things in mind during these types of days, you will quickly be able to prove to the complainers that these types of conditions are actually perfect!

Newbie Tip:

If you've ever shot around noon on a sunny day, you know how difficult it can be to go home with more than a handful of successful photos. That's for the simple reason that there is way too much dynamic range in your environment – the shadows are too black and the highlights are too bright. Ultimately, as a photographer, you go home with images that have too little detail in the shadows and also have completely white areas in the areas that should have formed beautiful highlights.
But shooting on a cloudy day is something completely different. Just like professional softboxes, the clouds ensure that the sunlight is spread very beautifully and diffusely. There is no direct sunlight anywhere on your subject. This lighting flatters almost any subject and you get those beautiful detailed shadows and highlights that are nicely exposed instead of those washed-out areas.

Pro Tip:

It is often said that images taken on a cloudy day look flat and uninteresting. The image often looks a bit dull with a grayish haze over your scene. Fortunately, that problem was quickly resolved.

The solution for that flat light lies in adding some light of your own. This can be done by using an off-camera flash or a silver-colored reflector that shines some extra light on your subject.

If your subject is not suitable for the use of a reflector or flash (such as these buffalos, for example), use the options of your RAW converter and adjust your levels so that there is more contrast in your image. Give your image a white and black point again and you will see that it comes to life!

How do you make this image?
Lens: Pentax 150-450mm at 380mm
camera: Pentax K-1
Settings: ISO in the middle range, aperture open, short exposure time
And then: Wait until your composition is correct and there are no more disturbing elements in your background.

Comments (4)

Wouter

2017-06-30 at 14:44

This is a great tip Mike. I'm just struggling with the pro tip of giving the photo a white and a black point. Is that in Lightroom, for example? I do use the sliders for contrast and exposure, but I have never done it that way...

But... if you do this more often, will you have a regular fan?

Mike Muizebelt

2017-06-30 at 14:59

Hello Wouter, I would indeed like to give these tips regularly. I aim for a frequency of once a week (and then until inspiration gives way...)
It is best to open your levels so that you have your histogram in front of you. If you then ensure that your histogram fills the entire range, you add a white and black point to your image.
There are more sophisticated methods that also include your gray point, but for most edits this is a quick solution that immediately improves your image. I will send you an example via email!