Gloomy outside? Don't put your camera away!

It's summer...so where is the sunshine? When I envision perfect lighting in a landscape setting, it rarely involves overcast light. My preference when it comes to landscape lighting leans more towards the dramatic. Bright beams of sidelight or backlight are breathtakingly captivating. However, I want you never to underestimate the power of overcast light. 

Gloomy days can make for some exceptional landscape lighting, especially when there's a touch of texture in the sky. Clouds diffuse strong sunlight creating a softbox lighting effect. Strong highlights are softened, and dark shadows are lifted, which provides a more even lighting scenario. Now is the perfect time to practice your long exposure skills without worrying about excessive dynamic range and easily blown-out highlights, or look for those glass-like reflections during the still calm of an overcast day.  

The second benefit of overcast lighting is that colours often become true and textures softly defined instead of hidden in shadow or washed out by bright sunlight. 

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Third, overcast lighting is also a perfect time to photograph waterfalls or water. The absence of bright highlights from sunlight bouncing off water creates beautiful even lighting.

When photographing landscape scenes with water under overcast light, don't be afraid to use your polarizer. A polarizer will help bring out texture in an overcast sky and cut glare off the water. 

Overcast light isn't that terrible! When the clouds roll in over the summer months, don't put your camera away. Conditions are favourable for landscape photography, so embrace the soft light and keep capturing nature's beauty.