Blue Sky/White Sky

I was wondering what everyone does when you are shooting in bright sunlight and sky is solid white. This happens with a D1, D1X, and cheap cams too. I shoot sports close up and always use an SB28DX flash. I make adjustments to ge the subject the way I want and don't worry about the sky too much.

--Life is short, drink Diet Pepsi

Tricky!

Have you explored the high-speed flash trick? It needs to be in manual so it might not be suitable in the sport arena.

A polariser in the right declension will render a white sky as blue but again not suitable in the sports arena. A grad filter can be cool but with close up sports will affect the sports persons as well so again not here.

I just tend to use shutter and 1/500 sec and hope for the best.

Steve Bruhn said:

I was wondering what everyone does when you are shooting in bright
sunlight and sky is solid white. This happens with a D1, D1X, and
cheap cams too. I shoot sports close up and always use an SB28DX
flash. I make adjustments to ge the subject the way I want and
don't worry about the sky too much.

--
Life is short, drink Diet Pepsi

Click to expand...

Hello Eeverybody,

Yes the skys do tend to wash out don't they, I solved it by carrying a big compressor in the van and a large spray gun to spray the sky a darker shade of blue so it comes out bluish looking and not washed out white.

Stephen

Life indeed is too short try to smile just a little at the little things that make it all really worth while!

Steve Bruhn said:

I was wondering what everyone does when you are shooting in bright
sunlight and sky is solid white. This happens with a D1, D1X, and
cheap cams too. I shoot sports close up and always use an SB28DX
flash. I make adjustments to ge the subject the way I want and
don't worry about the sky too much.

--
Life is short, drink Diet Pepsi

Click to expand...

Basics of photography dont change when shooting digitally!

Exposure differentials are the same whatever medium is used case of learning the ropes

Steve Bruhn said:

I was wondering what everyone does when you are shooting in bright
sunlight and sky is solid white. This happens with a D1, D1X, and
cheap cams too. I shoot sports close up and always use an SB28DX
flash. I make adjustments to ge the subject the way I want and
don't worry about the sky too much.

--
Life is short, drink Diet Pepsi

Click to expand...

Well, I learned a lot by traveling with Galen Rowell for nine weeks. Essentially: "control scene contrast in the camera to whatever degree possible" (translation: you can't recover detail you didn't capture).

In practice, that means:

1. Graduated neutral density on the sky (possibly in conjunction with a polarizer).
2. Fill flash in the shadows.

Now learning how to do #1 or #2 correctly for every situation could fill a semester course at most universities (with lots of lab work ; ), but it's well worth the effort. My outdoor photography improved dramatically once I mastered those two items.

Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide
author, Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guide to the Nikon D1, D1h, & D1x
http://www.bythom.com