How to Take Great Landscape Photos With Boring Skies

For most people, the prospect of a clear blue sky makes for a nice day, but for a landscape photographer, it is a nightmare that leads to boring frames. While those clear skies can be difficult to deal with, they do not mean you should just pack up your camera and lens and head back home. This great video tutorial features an experienced landscape photographer working under such conditions and sharing some helpful tips to improve your images. 

Coming to you from Nigel Danson, this excellent video tutorial discusses shooting landscape images under clear blue skies. No doubt, a blue sky can be frustrating, as it is just a monotonous swath across the frame, so one of the most basic things you can do is reduce its size in the frame. For example, if you compose using the rule of thirds, you probably put the sky in the upper two things most of the time, but if the sky is boring, try moving it to only the upper third and looking for interesting foreground elements to fill the bottom of the image. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Danson.

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out "Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi." 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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I struggled with this until I bought a drone. On days with a boring sky. I go up and fly my DJI Mini 2 with the camera pointed just below the horizon at a low-flying altitude. I use it in 4k video mode & make screen captures of interesting landscapes.