[vandamro]

Hi Folks,

I live in England and the weather really gives lots of subdued outdoor lighting. Even when you can see the sun, mostly cloudy is the norm. My problem is that I'm getting photos with rather drab results.

Can you guys suggest how to improve my camera technique to compensate. I use a Pentax K20D. I've been experimenting with the following:
1.) Using a warming filter
2.) Pushing up the temperature on the white balance.
3.) Using the "cloudy" white balance setting but that really doesn't help much.
4.) Experimenting with the image mode (e.g. vibrant, bright, natural etc.)

I really would like to get nice punchy, saturated colors.

Thoughts?

[opfor]

Try mornings and evenings.
Move further south.
Experiment with shots you can take with a flash or an extra light.
Get a reflector.
On really bad days, play indoors.

[bymy141]

Hi Folks,

I live in England and the weather really gives lots of subdued outdoor lighting. Even when you can see the sun, mostly cloudy is the norm. My problem is that I'm getting photos with rather drab results.

Can you guys suggest how to improve my camera technique to compensate. I use a Pentax K20D. I've been experimenting with the following:
1.) Using a warming filter
2.) Pushing up the temperature on the white balance.
3.) Using the "cloudy" white balance setting but that really doesn't help much.
4.) Experimenting with the image mode (e.g. vibrant, bright, natural etc.)

I really would like to get nice punchy, saturated colors.

Thoughts?

Well, you cannot make it better than it is, right?
You could try to push up clarity and vibrance in Lightroom if you have that.
I'd be moderate in pushing up saturation.
Colour temp is an option as well.

Have you tried HDR photography?
That might work for you as well.

Something like this:

Attachment 36755

[chalion]

What are you trying to capture? If it's landscape (or static scenes), are you using longer shutter speeds and different ISOs? Higher F-stops?

[Wheatfield]

Hi Folks,

I really would like to get nice punchy, saturated colors.

Thoughts?

Saturation and contrast are your friends. If you shoot jpegs, do it in camera, if you shoot raw, play with the sliders until you get something you like and save the settings as a preset.

[dylansalt]

try shooting 5700K (my default setting) in bright mode with +1 sat +1 cont

dyl

[Ron Boggs]

Don't include the sky in your images--intimate landscapes and extractions of parts of street scenes.

Manual/custom white balance...then add the warming filter AFTER setting the white balance.

High hazy white sky is the best for intimate and extraction shots. Don't be afraid of midday when the amount of light is less muddy. IE if cloud cover is too thick, shoot midday.

Find subjects with more color or colorful elements.

Do some black & white conversions where color temp becomes less pertinent.

[Lowell Goudge]

Hi Folks,

I live in England and the weather really gives lots of subdued outdoor lighting. Even when you can see the sun, mostly cloudy is the norm. My problem is that I'm getting photos with rather drab results.

Can you guys suggest how to improve my camera technique to compensate. I use a Pentax K20D. I've been experimenting with the following:
1.) Using a warming filter
2.) Pushing up the temperature on the white balance.
3.) Using the "cloudy" white balance setting but that really doesn't help much.
4.) Experimenting with the image mode (e.g. vibrant, bright, natural etc.)

I really would like to get nice punchy, saturated colors.

Thoughts?

1) Warming Filter

Depending on the type of overcast, it can already be quite warm, unless it is really dark. I find some of my best mid day shots are with high overcast, colors seem to pop out.

Really dark overcast is just that, however, and as others have suggested, perhaps you should consider that in the "mood" of the shots you take, at the risk of being labelled by your friends as depressing.

2)& 3) WB adjust

I don't understand the comment here pushing up the temperature makes them colder, more blue and depressing, and it sounds like you already have that. To warm up the photos you need to reduce the color temperature (i know it is backwards but...)

if the K20D WB adjustment is like the K10D, have you experimented with the settings fully. On the K10D, if you take a shot, then select Fn And WB you see the image you just took, and it changes interactively as you adjust the WB. You can really fine tune it this way, and although the display is not "calibrated" it gets you very close.

4) Experiment with image mode

I change the contrast and image mode all the time based upon the contrast of the scene and how I want to shoot. at maximum contrast my K10D has only 4 stops in the linear region of the histogram between 25 and 225, but at minimum contrast it has 6. that is two additional stops of dynamic range for bright days, but on a cloudy day where things are a little flat, increase the contrast to spread things out a little. Look at your histogram to see how wide it is at the base. if it is really narrow, you can increase contrast and saturation. if it is really wide, you may wish to reduce contrast and saturation.

[NaClH2O]

And to not seem like a complete sheep, play around especially with midtone contrast settings. Contrast + saturation gives better results than either alone.

NaCl(lots of ways to bump 'punch' )H2O

[krypticide]

I'd love to have this mostly cloudy weather. Perfect for model shoots since you don't get harsh shadows and the dynamic range is a lot smaller.

I think you just need to tweak contrast and vibrance/saturation. Maybe post a few shots that you think could be better?

[Nowhere Matt]

I was just out for an unscheduled photo opportunity, taking along my children to a local war memorial. Today is very overcast here as well but I am borrowing my cousin's wide angle and was in the area so I did not want to miss the chance, however short to get some shots. Kinda wish I had read and thought about increasing contrast and saturation within the body but my time was short today so I was really only hoping for some shots I could convert to black and white anyway and return to the memorial in better light and with no children in tow. I'll just most likely have to use a less wide less that I have; this Sigma 10-20 of his goes on ebay soon.

Plus I just wanted to show off the quote in my signature. Something someone recently told me and it stuck.

[MJB DIGITAL]

It's funny to me that you are having a problem with this kind of lighting. When I shoot on bright days, I underexpose a bit so that I start the edit with a bit of drabness. It retains more color depth in the image file and leaves me with more to work with.
I love shooting on overcast days because I dont have to worry about clipping highlights and I can have more color and tonal range to work with.

On overcast days, I do warm up the whitebalance a bit....but it is to flatter the skin tones.

I quite like the light we get in the UK. I'm more worries about the rain. It can be a challenge some times but I don't want it easy all the time.

I mostly tweak the images in PP to get the results I want.

[Flacosaurio]

I would definitely try HDR. I live in Chile and spend most summers near the coast, where it's almost always overcast... I've had great results using DPHDR. The only other thing i can think of is night photography, which i also love. Just get a warm coat, a tripod and you're set!!

[tenpointnine]

I live on the east coast of Scotland, so I see more than my share of overcast days.
I'll echo the previous advice about playing with colour temp, and warming filters. I also do some B+W conversion, and close ups. Flowers can look incredible after a rain shower.

I'm a fan of portraits shot with window light. The combination of a window and an overcast sky, gives you the biggest and best softbox effect.