deciding Whether the sky is Worth the eFFort Sky can be a very important part of your landscape photography. But sky is not always the best thing for the photo. Skies can complement a landscape, but they also can detract from it. The wrong sky can be terribly distracting for an important landscape. On the other hand, the right sky can make a landscape lively and bold (Figure 6.1). The key is to look at your sky and ask yourself two things: • Is the sky appropriate for your landscape? • Can your camera capture the sky?
FIgure 6.1
ISO 100 1/30 sec. f/11 30mm (APS-C)
A breaking storm offered great clouds for this evening scene in Florida’s everglades National Park.
is the sky appropriate For your Landscape? Sometimes it’s easier to identify when skies are not appropriate for a landscape: • Blank skies: Sometimes skies are just blank and boring (Figure 6.2). There’s nothing interesting about the sky. This is especially true when you have neither a bright blue sky nor bold and defined clouds. Avoid blank skies whenever you can. Sometimes you need a sliver of sky to define the top part of a landscape, but don’t use any more than you have to.
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L a n d s c a p e p h o t o g r a p h y : F r o m s n a p s h o t s t o g r e at s h o t s