Dark skies on sunny days - makes for majestic photography
Vincent and Claudia at Halfmoon Cay with the Nieuw Amsterdam behind. Dramatic lighting has a way of making a scene pop when it may otherwise be somewhat ordinary. In the scene above, the Holland America ship is illuminated by the sun against a dark sky. The couple in the foreground are highlighted against the dark sea behind them. This was photographed in Alberta 22 years ago - the dark skies making an ominous background. The problem with getting these shots is that everything has to be just right. You need a heavily overcast sky with breaks in the cloud cover to illuminate your foreground while your background is dark. You can do this with flash, but the problem is that a flash will only illuminate the subject and not the entire foreground. There are exceptions, such as the photo I took of my wife while staying in Hawaii overnight on a cruise ship. Night provided the dark skies while artificial lighting illuminated the foreground. The contrast between for...