The Sky's the Limit (and It's Actually There!)
It happened again. Twice in one week. And honestly, it left me a little… taken aback.
The first time, it was a fellow photographer. We were geeking out about gear and the joys (and occasional chaos) of wedding photography. She was showing me some gorgeous shots from a recent wedding, all soft light and happy smiles. Then, almost as an aside, she said, "I wish I had Photoshop so I could Photoshop in skies like you do."
My smile faltered. I wasn't sure how to respond. I gently explained that while I do enhance my images in Lightroom, the dramatic skies you see in my photos are actually the skies that were there. Maybe tweaked for color and contrast, but genuinely present when I clicked the shutter. If there's a fiery sunset or a moody, cloud-strewn expanse, that's what graced the horizon that day.
A few days later, I was photographing a dear client and friend. We've worked together for years, and she's always been so supportive. This time, she had a vision: sunset, dramatic skies, and a baby cow. Ah, the beautiful complexities of photography! We had to make a Sophie's Choice between the dramatic sky and the baby cow's early bedtime. She chose the cow, and we had a wonderful session filled with adorable bovine moments. But then, as we were chatting about past shoots, she mentioned how "awesome" the skies I photoshopped into her engagement photos were.
Again, that familiar pang of surprise. I found myself explaining, for the second time in a week, that those breathtaking skies were real. They were the backdrop to her love story that day. I manipulated them in Lightroom to bring out their vibrancy, their depth, but they were undeniably there.
It made me think back to when I first fell in love with vivid sky photography. Years ago, lost in the endless scroll of Facebook, I stumbled upon the work of a few photographers whose images just stopped me in my tracks. The subjects were always beautifully lit, the connection in their eyes palpable, but it was the skies that truly captivated me. They were dramatic, almost painterly, yet never overshadowed the people in the frame.
I was hooked. I spent countless hours researching, practicing in my spare time, trying to even get a whisper of that magic in my own work. I'm drawn to capturing the connection in people's eyes – I truly believe they are windows to the soul, and that direct gaze speaks volumes. And yes, I also adore a great, dramatic sky.
The challenge, the beautiful dance, lies in capturing both simultaneously. It requires a specific understanding of light, knowing exactly how to set my camera, and often utilizing external lighting to balance the exposure between a brightly lit sky and a perfectly illuminated subject. It's a skill I've been honing for years, and I still feel like I have so much more to learn.
So, why am I sharing this? Not to sound defensive, but because there's a passion behind what I do. It's not about trickery or artificiality. It's about seeing the beauty that's already there and using my skills to bring it to life in an image.
To show you what I mean, I'm going to include some raw, straight-out-of-camera images alongside the edited versions. You'll be able to see that those skies are indeed present. You might even notice my progress over the years in learning how to capture them better in-camera, minimizing the need for drastic post-processing.
It's a journey, this photography thing. And sometimes, it's a little surprising to realize how others perceive your work. But at the end of the day, my goal is to create authentic and emotionally resonant images that tell a story – a story where the sky, in all its glorious, real-life drama, plays its part.
