Calm Photos

A blue, clear sky can be pretty bright when doing just about any type of outdoor photography. A cloudy or overcast sky can be even worse, especially during high summer. To compensate for the vast difference in exposure levels between the ground and the sky, landscape photographers often employ the use of split neutral density filters, which is basically will cut down the overly bright sky by about one to two stops without darkening the ground. I have two different split neutral density filters, one for extremely bright skies and the other when I just need to drop the brightness down a small bit.

The problem is these filters are always in my larger LowePro bag, which I carry along with my tripod when out doing nothing but nature and landscape work. The other times when I’m traveling light - such as with just a camera body and a couple of lenses - I tend not to pack my filters. However, this doesn’t mean I can’t apply the same effect of darkening a bright sky without losing the ground to dark shadows. It’s called the magic of using duplicate layers in Photoshop.

I found myself going back and applying this post-processing technique to one of my “snapshots” I took this past Sunday while visiting SunWatch Indian Village, just south of Dayton along the Great Miami River. I really wasn’t there to photograph (really), but rather to enjoy this archaeological treasure with my daughters.

Below are the before and after results. Toning down the levels in the sky while adjusting the saturation on the ground provides a bit more “pop” and drama to the scene. Some might think this to be “digital manipulation.” I tend to disagree, because I am not actually adding or subtracting any of the elements within the photograph but rather just slightly enhancing what is already present for increased visual effect.

The before image -

After -