Have you ever noticed that lol now looks like a person throwing their arms up as if to say they give up on this conversation?
Just me?
Okay then.
Moving on.
Sorting through old photos on a hard drive, I came across a classic example of how just changing where you stand when composing a photo. In this case it was a field trip to Gettysburg Civil War Battlefield.
The lighting, the blue sky, and the history surrounding me. Perfect place for a school trip and practicing photography. I took this photo, looked at my screen and realize it would like much better with the stature facing me. So, I walked around.
And that, people, is when I realized the sun’s position can seriously impact the color of the sky in your photos—and not just during golden hour, sunrise, or sunset.
When your camera is pointed toward the sun, or it’s close to the frame, you’re capturing harsh, direct sunlight. Because the light is traveling a shorter, more direct path through the atmosphere, there’s less scattering of blue wavelengths. This makes the sky look pale blue or even slightly yellow. Now, if you turn about 90 degrees away from the sun, you’ll notice the sky becomes a much deeper, richer blue. That’s where the scattered blue light is strongest, with minimal interference from direct sunlight. A polarizing filter can enhance this effect further by cutting glare and boosting contrast.
The takeaway? Always be aware of where the sun is, and adjust your position accordingly. A polarizer can definitely help, but as I mentioned in another post—if even that doesn’t do the trick, it might be best to come back at a different time.
Yes, I know tools like Lightroom, Photoshop, and a whole bunch of other editing programs (whose names I can’t remember right now) can make skies look blue. I like LR. I process all my photos in LR, have for years. I’ve even venture over to Photoshop. That said, when I shoot a photo, I’ve had to rid myself of the mindset “I’ll fix that in post”. Since I shoot in Raw I already know I have a decent amount of post-processing coming, why increase that? In addition, no amount of post will make something interesting or ‘work’ in your photo.
Turn around and you have this
Two examples for the same concept. Turn around, readjusted your position. A basic concept, but an important one. (Also, don’t try to make every photo ‘work’. Its fine to have photos that make you say ‘and I call myself a photographer?! Every photo is practice, even if they never venture out from your camera)
