Hohenfels Cloudy

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! After a chilly day and busy day, Hohenfels is best served with a cup of HOT chocolaty cocoa!

Today’s lighting was nice for some outdoor environmental portraits. The sky can be a great light source if used properly.

Cloudy overcast skies give us nice soft light that wraps around our subjects. Being so soft allows the light to smooth and flatter the folks you’re photographing. It works best if we can keep the sky out of the scene, like shooting against a nice background or in an office through a large open window. Soft light is what makes a portrait nice and can be used for awesome effect.

When we don’t have the luxury of cloudy weather, open shade works about as well, depending on reflections and such. When shooting near the edge of a wooded area like a park, it can give the same soft effect. Using reflectors and other light sources allows us to make it more or less dramatic according to our vision.

Don’t forget, though, that cloudy and overcast can also be your friend when shooting cityscapes and nature shots, and can add some nice smooth highlights to close up flower shots. This last one is especially true right after a rain. I’ve found that taking shots of features near old buildings in cloudy weather can smooth out your light and help hold the exposure for your metered areas to bring out the details. A little bit of golden tone to the cloudy light can really add some warmth to those details, as well.

Try getting out during these end of winter and early spring blah days. Look for the soft light, look for something that inspires your vision and encourages a shot or 2, and take the shot! You’ll enjoy reviewing your results over a cup of cocoa.

Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!