Why the sky isn’t blue

I’ve run into this conversation multiple times since I started shooting, and have finally realized it’s something I (and many photographers) should address with clients. We try so had to manage expectations, deliver a product clients love, and give them a good experience.

Several years ago I was hired by another photographer to help shoot a giant family session at their lake-front mansion. The shoot was slated for 11AM during a hot, blue-sky day. I was hired because my style was very close to the hired photographer’s style. We shot the session, had a good time and left. She delivered the gallery to the matriarch and the matriarch was livid. Livid that the sky was white in the photos, and not the blue that we all could clearly see that day. The poor photographer thought she’d done a good job, and delivered a product as she advertised on her website… but lawyers got involved, I think she refunded all the money she’d been paid, plus was out what she paid me (and 2 others that were hired).

Did the client have a right to be mad? While I do think she acted a little crazy, I can’t really blame her for being upset. She expected something that she did not receive.

A similar conversation came about last week when a photographer posted a beautiful images of a couple in-front of a stunning backdrop. The couple was properly exposed, but the background a little washed out. He was upset that the client questioned why the sky wasn’t blue in his image when it was in the iPhone snapshot she had from the same moment ….never-mind the client’s in the iPhone photo were nearly black and unrecognizable in that image… but the sky looked nice!

OK, why am I telling you this?

Cameras do not “see” the same as our eyes! Our eyes have a very high dynamic range and can pick up highlights and shadows all at once, cameras cannot do that alone. Cameras work a little more like when you go from a dark movie theater to outdoors on a bright day…. your eyes had adjusted to the dark of the theater, and then all the sudden needed to see all the detail in the highlights…. you can’t do both simultaneously. Camera’s only work that way, they have to pick the bright or the dark, not both.

Many wedding and portrait photographers bill themselves as “natural light photographers”…. and the average person doesn’t really know what that means. It means that they utilize the available light, preferably daylight. This usually means that if they’re shooting outdoors, where it’s bright, they don’t normally use external lighting. If you are not using external lighting it will effect how and where you place your clients within that available light…. normally it means your subject will be in the shadow or shade that light is creating…. which means your camera is going to pick the “dark” to look good… not the bright. The bright just became somewhat unimportant to your photo…. and if you’re outside, that means the sky just turned white.

Here’s an example of images shot moments apart and all I did was a 180 degree turn to switch between the dunes and the water. The sun hitting their backs in both instances, but my position to them has changed.

On the left: See how their shadows fall in front of them? That means the side of them facing me is in the shade/shadow, or the “dark” and I picked dark for the camera to read, not the bright…. so, the sky is almost white. On the right, I chose the reverse, and let the camera read the “bright” because my subjects were being hit with the sunlight.  Their shadows are in front of them, which makes them lit with the same intensity as the sky…. so the sky is blue!

Have I thoroughly confused you yet?!

So, don’t be alarmed when your sky isn’t blue. It doesn’t mean your photographer did a bad job.  It just means that the way they choose to shoot will likely have you look the most flattering possible with the available light they’re using! I prefer to not lug lighting around when I’m shooting, it’s a personal preference… so you’ll get white skies in some of your images… but that means the light on you, will look good 🙂

Want to learn more about photography? I’m glad to offer one on one sessions with you!