My response to this is while yes you’re lacking in your natural vitamin D which is important. I live in El Paso, Texas. 364 days of the year are always over exposed and forces me to shoot in only sunrise sunset hours. I recently went to San Francisco with all the fog and I couldn’t have been happier. I was actually able to take my camera out all day with me and nothing was over exposed
I hear this a lot. I think the problem is if you're only looking for light contrast to compose. I stopped composing light for a while to focus more on colour in my compositions, and I found the boring light the best for that, because the only contrast in the scene was colour contrast I had to develop my eye to find, rather than light and dark, so there were less distractions. I actually prefer overcast, damp days to harsh light days for photography. I'd be more likely to shoot monochrome in harsh light because I'm focusing on the light contrast anyway. However, I also prefer blue hour to golden hour so I might just be the minority. 😂 One tip that might help, is ditching the wide lens for a while, just to take the sky out of the equation. Get closer, start with detail and colour abstracts, and then slowly pull back as you get an eye for spotting great colour contrasts in scenes. Also, push the saturation up and the contrast up in camera so you're not looking at neutral shots of neutral scenes. Give Velvia at -3 Color a chance, and cooler white balances like 4500k - 5300k. It could help you to previsualise a style, and then when you get home pick the colours to desaturate. ✨
I think flat, grey, overcast days lend themselves really well to black and white photography if you apply the high contrast environment tip suggested in this video. It gives off a vastly different look to that of a black and white image created with sunlight and shadows plus is a lot trickier to achieve, lending to much more of a challenge. Plenty of scope for post processing too. I certainly learn more shooting in less than ideal light as it requires I put in much more effort.
Dude, I love your videos. They are so rich with information and minimal talks regarding gear. The creative content you produce are inspiring and make me want to go out in these "difficult" conditions to take photos more often. Thanks for the inspiration, and I hope to see many more videos to come!
Out of the grey ? Learning photography from you 🙏... I have recently bought FUJIFILM XT30 II with XC15-45mm F3.5-5.6 OIS PZ kit lens for Streetphotography and daily shooting purpose.
@@snapsbyfoxI just got a Q3 love how simple it is to use, but having trouble getting used to the 28mm and especially the focusing after coming from Sony.
@@sailslikeagirl3154 Yeah, I was unsure at first, but once I got used to it, I really like it for that everyday-carry sort of use; but it's not going to replace my Fujifilm gear -- other than I think I'll be selling/trading my X100V, since I haven't touched it in a couple months now.
Excellent workshop. Living in the Pacific Northwest I’ve tuned my photography to deal with shades of gray, and I shoot mainly monochrome as a result. But it can be madness to manage highlights and contrast. Plus I just purchased Luminar Neo, so this video was very timely. Thanks.
Getting closer to take detail shots rather than sweeping vistas also makes bad light, whether overcast or harsh sun, less of a problem. In fact the soft even light on overcast days can be an advantage in some cases.
I live in Portland, Oregon in the US. It can be nearly as gray as London. As we’re going into fall I’m watching this video to prevent myself from going insane 😅 thanks
The biggest issue with overcast is finding a subject that stands out. So take all those things you think about such as it being a sad, dreary, boring, etc. day and lean into it. Easy subject: A girl in a beautiful dress, side profile, has a light shine on her back subtlety, like the headlights from your car set to parking lights so it's orange. Have some trees in the background, that can be a silhouette, blur them out, they'll be black anyway but just something to contrast the grey sky (grey sky, dark black trees, highlights from cloud shift). Take that shot with moody in mind. To take things up, make sure it's a windy day and her hair is blowing. Now tell her to imagine her husband died or she's going through a break up. Her depressed state will contrast with the beautiful dress. Another approach is to not even worry about the sky. Grab a flash, underexpose the background by -1 or -2 and use the flash to light your subject. Don't worry about lighting their face. This is where having a good wardrobe stylist come in clutch b/c the shoot isn't on the person but on the fabric. So light the clothing with a soft flash. You only need 1 light, use a beauty dish. Sticking with portraits, you can use a very low angle and as long as you have a good subject you can literally underexpose by -1 or -2 and shoot them at a low angle (looking up to the sky in matrix metering). Set your white balance to blue (cool, 4300K, 3000k, 2500k). Again stay with moody. You can also contrast with warm tones of the outfit. Red is your friend in overcast. I'll make another comment.
Nice one, instant sub, very lovely footage blend and your shots are excellent, please leave them hanging a sec or two longer while you're at it :) Luminar Neo workflow seems logical and helpful at first glance. 2:45 on blanket grey sky - there's a video or two in itself there and I guess tripod and/or strong IBIS or noise reduction is inevitable when shooting in 'boring' light. Gonna try monochrome liveview, somehow the colors hide the basic shapes and spaces of a scene at first glance, for my eyes.
Thanks Roman for sharing. I agree with using color and deviating from the rules to make shots more interesting. Editing can be SO subjective! I think you give some good tips that anyone can use though, apart from taste.
Roman, you cheated on us with a Leica 😂 How is Luminar handling Fuji RAWs? Also, does it read film simulations or are you bound to using its native colour profiles?
As always I love your realistic approach and solid tips to save the day when traveling and the location you are in does not have the magical light we all want. Thank you so much for consistently promoting photography for mere mortals
When you don't know what you don't know...I've just started photography and alot of the time I have available to shoot is in this lighting situation. 🤷
Though your vid is pretty good and helpful I admit I am the guy who never pull the trigger in bad light. Hard shadows are central element of my photography. If there are none there'll be no photos
I have heard some say there is not such thing as bad light, just more challenging light. The tips show one can get interesting photos under any lighting condition.
Awesome video again Roman..i can relate to shooting when i have free time due work and adulting...will have to note this and write this down for yhe future
Overcast Portrait Session: Have a model dress in a red trench coat. Hopefully long hair. Tell them the focus will be hair movement. Set your WB to around 4200K or 3000K, underexpose by 1 stop. Shoot in a neutral profile. Pull up the exposure in post as needed. Turn up the red in post. Add a little (little) bit of contrast. No heavy stuff.
I was just looking this video. It’s a lot helpful. I am Seattle, USA and finding good lights is not possible as it’s always overcast weather. This was really helpful specifically 3 stop exposure and color contrast. Thanks !!
I prefer overcast days to bright, sunny days. The light is perfect because the sky turns into a giant softbox of perfectly diffused, even lighting. It's perfect for portraits and street photography. Sunny days are only good when you're looking for contrast with light and shadow. But I'm also from Arizona where it gets hot as fuck. Our good days are your heatwaves, so we prefer the cloudy, overcast because we actually get to go outside without dying.
Really nice demonstration Roman. One habit I often fall into is not raising exposure enough. Not sure why, but I sometimes leave my images a bit too much on the dark side. I think I worry things will look overexposed when in fact they are visible! LOL! Have a rockin' day!
THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!!! I live in shanghai, this days the weather is boring ,but after watching your video, I learned a lot, and then decide to go out and try to capture something interesting!!!
Great advice! I'll try that during my next photo walk. We may not have London fog in Moselle, but we do have grey skies pretty often :) One thing I might add is that this type of light makes it easy to capture nice portraits since you don't have harsh shadows on faces.
Really appreciate these kinds of tips! The weather here is usually exactly like that, grey and rain..! Thanks for the video, it's good to be inspired and reminded that great pictures can be taken anyway 👍
I am really glad that I found your channel. I have bought myself a Fujifilm camera as a retirement present but am finding getting back to photography mind blowing. Your videos are simple, informative and give me just enough to absorb in one go. Thanks for the inspiration and keep up the great work.
Hi and thanks for an excellent youtube page. Normally I agree with you on most things and get a lot of great insights and tips on how to move forward in my quest to become a better photographer. But! precisely in this, I don't quite agree with you about the idea of overexposing to make the sky white, because gloomy and gray skies in particular create such an amazing amount of mood. possibly one can both underexpose and overexpose and merge in post to create both. All of this depends on what you want out of the picture. Maybe it's just me who is that slightly depressed melancholic type. All the best Anders Mohlin Stockholm.
Great video and tips as always! 👍 Maybe, in these low-light, overcast, rain and foggy situations, Multi-Exposure, built in option in the camera, let's say (-0.5/0/+0.5) or some other adjusted range in settings can help, too.
Amazing! I was JUST thinking about this today. I live in Nairobi and we’re going through our dreary season. It’s the best time of the year to see the great migration of the Buffalo, and the light is so dull. Just in time, and thanks for the tips! Especially the editing 🙏🏼
Great video. The first time I saw you editing with Luminar. Saved the video straight away. I've been working with Adobe in the past, but very happy for a year now with Luminar Neo. I would love to see more videos. Thanks Roman!
We have the opposite issue here in SW Texas. Harsh, strong light most of the day. Great for infrared, but a real challenge if you want to shoot anything else outside of Golden/Blue Hours.
Overcast days are wonderful if you want to get some nice portrait work done. You don't get squinting and deep shadows across your subject's face. There's an ideal subject for every type of light, and photography is more fun if you can be flexible, rather than trying to force a shot in the wrong light
Great advice and I will definitely look at the software. I think that living in the uk I have found myself converting to bnw a great deal, this advice will be incredibly useful considering the poor weather we have had this year.
This is going to be very relatable to me, I live in Melbourne Australia, by far the cloudiest place in Aus, find myself feeling very envious of these beautiful colours I see from photographers across the world.
Great post. Your advise is right on and your samples are both relevant and exquisite. You've got more practical, applicable tips in ten minutes then you'd see in a hundred other photography videos.
Being Seattle based, very relatable! I love all the tips here, I feel like sometimes I just forget things and then I watch your videos and you make it sound so easy, always inspiring!
Really inspired by your videos and getting so many ideas from the lighting ones. Was hoping to see which presets you would use, just bought yours, so hope you are back to lightroom soon 😏.
Fantastic video with a set of solid tips on how to shoot in the sort of light that the UK has for the majority of the year. Another great chapter in the Roman Fox photography encyclopedia. Thanks for making the video, Roman. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I got a full minute into this video impressed by you choosing to show everything in really bad lighting, even when you're talking to the camera. Then i remembered i had turned the screen brightness on my phone way down. 😂 great video!
Man, I find your videos so helpful and packed with great information. I haven't even heard of the over exposure technique after watching and reading photography tips for a long time. Thank you!!
thanks for a very inspirational video, that's a really interesting and overlooked set of ideas. I particularly love your comment "if you're a 'properly exposed', histogram-in-the-middle-enthusiast, then you might want to skip this because you're feelings are going to be hurt"
As always a brilliant video. It's always like opening a present and finding that it's what you wanted and needed. Keep these presents coming please. One question. When you advise to over expose do you do that manually or with the exposure compensation? Thank you, Keep up with this amazing work. You help so many people.
