Photo of an almost white object with cast sky?

[Tikles]

Hi all.

My noob self tried taking a picture of a white building with an extremely overcast sky. Of course, on b/w film, I can barely tell the difference between the clouds and the building.

Is there a method or filter of some sort that could give more contrast between these two?

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I think there's no good solution for that... If in real life they are close, on film they'll be close... The best option is shooting when there's blue sky...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[unohuu]

split density filter or your favorite compensation filter.

 

[Brian Legge]

Strategic burning?

If there were any sort of directional light, you could try a polarizer. Probably not enough to make a difference given the situation, but its the only way of trying to distinguish between the two given similar light.

 

[calebk]

You can't manipulate stuff that isn't there to begin with. If you really have to shoot that building you probably would have to wait for better weather or better skies.

 

[dave lackey]

Hi all.

My noob self tried taking a picture of a white building with an extremely overcast sky. Of course, on b/w film, I can barely tell the difference between the clouds and the building.

Is there a method or filter of some sort that could give more contrast between these two?

Post the results with a photo!!! Then, we can have a better idea of how to help you.

 

[oftheherd]

In the mean time, if you are going to be using b/w a lot, get a set of filters. At least red, yellow, blue, green, and orange. You never know until you hold one up to your eye, what light exactly is being reflected, and how it will be effected by a particular filter. Filters are relatively inexpensive, but if cost is a factor, at least start with yellow, red, blue, in that order, then green and orange.

 

[Rob-F]

Photograph the building at a different time of day. If possible, photograph it every hour, from before sunrise to after sunset. It makes a big difference, and at least one of the photos will be a keeper.

 

[Tikles]

Well, here is the original picture in question. After countless hacking with it, I came to the conclusion that I simply need to make sure that I have more blue sky next time. Next time I have B/W film, I did a lil bit of research and now know a red filter will really make the sky pop. Thanks guys.

Although the entire building isn't white, once I converted this to B/W, the white bits of the tower really didn't have a whole lot of contrast from the sky. At least now I know for next time.