Overcast skies may be bad for landscape photography, but they are great for shooting portraits. When shooting under cloudy skies you’ve got a giant overhead softbox to work with. This creates soft light that wraps around your subject and makes it easy to capture a proper exposure without blown highlights or harsh shadows. This soft light is also a great base for adding off-camera flash.
A few tips for success on an overcast day:
•Set your white balance to ‘Cloudy’ to add a little warmth to your colors
•Don’t include the sky in your photos. Unless the clouds are very dramatic, an overcast sky doesn’t make a good background.
•Use off-camera flash (speedlights or strobes) to create more interesting or dramatic lighting. Use the ambient light as your fill and build the main light with your off-camera flash.
•You may need to bump up the contrast (I like to use a curves adjustment) in Lightroom or Photoshop.
September 3rd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Overcast weather is excellent for video as well. Warm up the scene with a couple of Tota ligts + some CTO and you’re good to go.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:33 am
That’s true, Cameron. Thanks for the tip!
Cheers,
Rob