cloudy weather

[subhuman]

A man I work with asked me this morning to take a picture
for him of a a field of bluebonnet flowers with 2 old tractors, he gave me
the directions.....He says he wants it enlarged,framed & he will hang it in his
office.....(he will be paying me for my trouble) the only problem is the weather
forcast for the next 7-8 days is dark & cloudy with rain, I am sure he wants
the picture to be of a bright spring day, my question is how would you shoot
a scene like I described & make it look good in this weather...I know this is a hard question
but I was just wondering.........thanks for all help

[Singletracklovr]

Sometimes clouds can make a very interesting shot. Total overcast can be quite gloomy.
I would think a couple hours before sun set would be worth trying just incase the sun desides to peak thru the clouds.
hth

[mjs1973]

A couple things to consider. Most people think that bright sunny days are great for photography, but the lighting can be very harsh. An overcast day will give you much more even light. If it's overcast, and the sky doesn't add anything interesting to the photo, don't include it in the image. You may have to get up high, and shoot down on your subject to accomplish this. A step ladder is a very common photography tool. Get up high and shoot down on your subject. It may also help to emphasize the size of the field and give you a nice image.

Anther simple trick you can do is to adjust your white balance. Switching to a WB of cloudy can really warm up an image and make it appear to have been shot in much warmer light than what it actually was.

[subhuman]

thanks everyone for all the help,it is much appreciated
I went & found the place yesterday, I found the field with all the flowers
but no tractors, then I pulled to the side of the road and looked thru my zoom lens
and finally I saw the tractors my guess was about 300 yards off the road,
right next to someone's house so now I may be tresspassing to boot....
It was raining off & on so I could only take a pic to get verification from the guy if that
was the place he was talking about,it was, but he didnt know who owned the land
(he keeps telling me he will pay me for my trouble, it just sounds like it
will be more trouble than I thought) but I will not back down from a challenge
I just hope I don't get shot at or go to jail in the process......
Any one else ever had an experience like this?
Thanks

[Singletracklovr]

I would wear my camera around my neck and go up to the house and knock on the door. Comment how nice their property is and you would like to take some pictures of there field with flowers, see what they say. Can't hurt. Hope you will post up a shot or two if you get the OK.

[Frog]

You got good advice and I hope we can see what you come up with.
Maybe you can shoot without the sky being included? Might be hard in Texas.
Flowers photograph better on cloudy days unless you get that early morning/late evening light on them

[subhuman]

Thanks everyone for all comments & suggestions,
Well, it took longer than I thought, I was going to do it tuesday
evening, but I woke up tuesday morning with a stomach bug (sorry) that
lasted 2 days.........So I finally got to go out yesterday about 7p.m ,it had
been cloudy most of the day, but the sun was begining to come out ,it
was shining on the flowers & the tractors (i made about 50-60 shots)....after I got home & looked at the results on the computer...I realized I need to desperatly take a
photography class, I need lots of help in exposure & composition.....
I found an online class at www.proudphotography.com that seems very complete
& very reasonable.....Any way I will print out the best pics & show them to the guy & if
he is not pleased I will try again.....I honestly dont think I will charge him a dime
(even though he wants to pay me) because they just honestly arent that good
I will keep trying till I get it right one way or the other...........
Thanks again everyone for all the help, everyone here is always so kind & helpful

[Frog]

Show us some of the results and you'll get some good advice.
Problem with flowers is they don't last long so you have to be ready when they are.
Something I'm bad about.

Do you have a community college nearby? They often have basic courses.
I did see a couple of fairly positive reviews of Proudphotgraphy.