I quite often post about working with gray skies on my blog and the challenges they present. Often times I don’t go out shooting on those kind of days because even if you find a great subject the light creates a more depressing or sad mood that can be seen in the photos. However, in order to become a better photographer you must learn how to work with these scenarios and produce a result.
Lately I’ve been spending my Sundays out fishing. I truly enjoy it and find it’s not only relaxing but also leads to some great photography. Of course every time I go out I see so many critters that I wish I had my 600 f/4 with me. I think they come out intentionally because they know I don’t have the long lens but that’s just me. Anyways while I was out drifting with some friends, Alex here hooked a very pretty Brown Trout that was worth stopping for.
Now when it comes to gray sky days there isn’t much you can do. Unless there are pockets of light or dramatic structure in the clouds, your odds of getting a nice shot aren’t going to be great. But by changing the situation with the addition of a subject and the use of flash you can then add more light and best of all more color. Gray sky days work really well in this regard because it doesn’t take a lot of power from the flash to make a good result. In this case it was a just the D4s, 24-70 AF-S and a single SB-900 flash. Real simple quick shot that made the day a little bit better.