This was one of the less desirable shots from my first time using Velvia film. The foreground colors are lovely, but the cloudy sky is almost entirely washed out. So, I'd like others who've successfully used Velvia to give me some hints on how to prevent a washed out sky like this one!
Carol; yes, yes, yes-- you nailed it! I'd rate it again if I could! The eyes now stay focused on the gorgeous golds, yellows and green of the meadow. Thank-you for trying my suggestion, and I hope you like it too. Oh! and congratulations on this being a featured critique photo. It seems that we both have one presently in that category. Cheers. Craig
There is another possibility you might like to consider. If the sky was really blue but just looks washed out on the slide, you should try a polarizing filter. Here in Japan the skies often are REALLY white, just bland, soft hazy white. But a polarizing filter can be turned to just the angle that will cut out most of the light from the sky, significantly darkening the blue--if it IS blue. The combination, with Velvia, which already has highly saturated colours, can be overkill, but it might have saved this particularly photo. You do have to be careful, sometimes, to balance the darkening of the sky with the effects the filter will also have on the other colours (grass, flowers). Just turn it to various angles and watch the viewfinder carefully for the best compromise you can get. If you consider getting a second hand one, do make sure it is a circular polarizing filter. They mostly are, these days, but there are some linear filters still around, and these will screw up the metering of your SLR if used.
Carol; both Eric and Steve give good advice and I agree. But to help salvage this particular picture, I'd want to crop out much of the washed out sky-- say down to at least the top of the blue area. Some have an aversion to cropping the original take, but that was an artificial boundary or frame to begin with. Use the power of cropping in your image editing program. I think you "saw" the meadow, so just present the meadow w/ a little sky. It's abeautiful meadow!
Carol, this particular sky isn't very attractive. The obvious focus of your image is the field of flowers. Next time, shoot just the field of flowers, and don't include the sky. If possible, try to find a slightly higher vantage point to get a better angle on the field of flowers.
It's not velvia that made the sky look this way. Unfortunately the sky is simply much brighter than the ground. In order to make this look perfect, you would need a graduated neutral density filter that you can place in the fram at angles. Without this, your best bet would have been to meter on the sky and have your ground be a little dark. Or, cut the sky out completely and just have the ground. If you shoot digital, you can cheat and shoot 2 shots, one with the sky exposed properly and one with the ground exposed properly and then put them together in an image editing program for optimum exposure! I hope that at least some of this makes sense.
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{K:86139} 10/15/2003
