Cloudless Skies in Landscape Photography: Yes or No?

I wanted to get this one in on July 29 but couldn’t make that happen.

The short version is that I was unhappy with how the image looked when I down sampled from 16 to 8 bit.

That’s the only option if you’re using the jpg format.

This issue had been bugging me for a while. I’d been asking friends prior to posting if they noticed anything off in general.

To be fair, they usually didn’t.

Nonetheless, I was deeply unsatisfied. I especially did not want to share an inferior reproduction of today’s share.

Happily, I found an acceptable work around. I’m not going to bore you with all the technical junk, which would make for uninteresting reading.

I also had already written a fairly length blog to accompany the photo.

In light of the above, I’ve decided to alter it and save some of my thoughts for another day while retaining the meat and potatoes of what I initially drafted.

Many landscape photographers abhor a cloudless sky.

I’ve seen photographers with YouTube channels choose to wait hours in the hopes that clouds will roll in.

And pack up rather than take a single frame if nothing materializes.

I understand the lack of enthusiasm for the most part.

The conventional wisdom is that cloudless skies create too much empty space in a scene (not the same as negative space); e.g., there’s nothing interesting to grab the viewer’s attention.

Here’s where I disagree, at least in this instance.

As I mentioned in this post from May, the summit of Mt. Fuji is only visible for a paltry number of days throughout the year.

I visited the Fujiyoshida region in January expressly to increase the likelihood that I would see the entire volcano unobstructed.

It’s the far rarer experience and one that many people hope to have, only to be disappointed after sometimes an entire week or more in country.

If seeing Fujisan on a cloudless day appeals to you, aim for winter! Also do your research ahead of time and plan your trip around it to maximize your chances of seeing all of the mountain.

Do I think some other elements in the upper part of the frame would add something if that was my intent?

Definitely. I took photos from different points on the trail up to Chureito Pagoda and down again.

For instance, I took advantage of bare branches and used these as framing elements to help drive home the feeling of winter. One of these frames hangs in my bedroom.

Likewise, I composed images at various points on my walk to and from where I was staying and got creative about what I included of the landscape around the mountain.

I would not say any of these choices are “right” or “wrong.”

Rather, I think each gives a different impression of Fuji and the city at its feet.

I want to wrap up by saying I think the cloudless background lends this scene a feeling of quiet serenity.

I almost feel like I’m waking up to a day that holds a lot of promise.

Which isn’t far from how I truly felt! Apart from that I was somewhat cold.

The sun wasn’t fully out yet and hadn’t quite reached all of the pagoda, so that the lighting on the beams is softer and more impressionistic than it was maybe 10 minutes later.

That feeling would be lost had there been a lot of cloud cover.

That’s all for now. Thanks for staying with me on another lengthy post.

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