Advice needed on photos

[dt98gsr]

Here is a pic I recently took for a photo contest on another forum the topic is Destruction.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e65/dt98gsr/VWVortexDistruction1.jpg

I was shooting around 5:00pm to 6:00, but I am still having trouble with the sky being blown out, any suggestions?

My only other question is, I wanted to take pictures of this location once I heard the topic was Destruction, but when I went back to the sight they had a fence with barbed wire sorrounding the perimeter. Any ideas other than jumping the fence?

BTW it is a large peace of land that they just cut down thousands and thousands of trees on.

Here is another pic from the same area but the fence is kinda ruins it for me.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e65/dt98gsr/VWVortexDistruction2font2.jpg

Any help would be appreciated.

[TROLL]

either hold the lens right up to the fence, try to shoot through an opening, and use a shallow DOF, and the fence might not even be noticeable. or the other option is to use the fence as part of the photo since its kind of destruction-ish.

as far as the sky being blown out, it has to do with the exposure ratio between the ground and the sky. digital cameras can only expose for between 5 to 6 stops of exposure range (light doubles with each stop) so if you are asking to photograph something that has extreme highlights and extreme shadows, you likely wont be able to retain detail in both in the same photo.
what you can to do to avoid it is try to shoot with the sun at your back so the sky isn't quite as bright, and/or shoot at a different time of day where the ground is more lit / the sky is less lit. possibly right at dusk or dawn might bring the exposure ratio closer. something you'll just have to experiment with.

orrrrr, the last option is to get a graduated neutral density filter and align it with the horizon line. it will darken what is behind the neutral density part and enable a more even exposure. look up a photo of one and you'll understand exactly how it works.

[dt98gsr]

either hold the lens right up to the fence, try to shoot through an opening, and use a shallow DOF, and the fence might not even be noticeable. or the other option is to use the fence as part of the photo since its kind of destruction-ish.

as far as the sky being blown out, it has to do with the exposure ratio between the ground and the sky. digital cameras can only expose for between 5 to 6 stops of exposure range (light doubles with each stop) so if you are asking to photograph something that has extreme highlights and extreme shadows, you likely wont be able to retain detail in both in the same photo.
what you can to do to avoid it is try to shoot with the sun at your back so the sky isn't quite as bright, and/or shoot at a different time of day where the ground is more lit / the sky is less lit. possibly right at dusk or dawn might bring the exposure ratio closer. something you'll just have to experiment with.

orrrrr, the last option is to get a graduated neutral density filter and align it with the horizon line. it will darken what is behind the neutral density part and enable a more even exposure. look up a photo of one and you'll understand exactly how it works.

Thanks for the advice man. I tried holding my camera right up againt the fence but I was unable to avoid capturing part of the fence in the image (maybe I could crop it out though now that I think of it). At times I think the fence does give a unique look to the photo, but I'm not really happy with how this one in particualr came out, I guess I'll have to play with that.

What you are saying about the exposure ratio between the ground and sky does make a lot of sense. It was driving me crazy because no matter what I did to adjust my setting I couldn't get an accurate representation of how it looked.

Both times I went to shoot this location were later in the day, i think if I can manage to wake up ealry enough I will try and shoot it early in the morning with the sun rising at my back as opposed to shooting into the sun setting.

I was shooting with a UV filter would that have had any real affect on the images?

Thanks again for the advice.

[TROLL]

the other option is to take one photo exposed for the sky and one for the ground and then blend them together in photoshop... if you're a photoshop kinda guy you could try that.
none of the options are 'simple', its just a tough shooting situation.

[grimm]

I might suggest taking the shots a bit latter when the sun has dropped under teh tree line. It may seem dark, but with a tripod and longer exposure you should be able to get a really nice smooth sky. In the morning you won't have the same look. Not saying it wouldn't be nice? but it wouldn't be the same.