Don’t let gray skies get you down. Turn it into a unique photo opportunity! Don’t worry, we’ll show you how.
Angle Your Camera Upward
The first piece of advice: get low and shoot upward. The whole purpose of angling your camera this way is so that the gray sky is a prominent piece of your portrait. You want to accentuate the gray sky to give your photo a mysterious look while also using it as your background.
Set It Up
Now for everyone’s favorite part: lighting. Here Joshua is using a MagBox light setup, positioned as close to the subject as possible (the key to soft lighting). Using the MagBox 24 Octa with a low ISO of 150 and aperture at F10, the subject is now underexposed and the ambient light is dark enough to accentuate the texture in the clouds.
Below is a comparison of how the photo looked originally without any artificial light, and an example of the photo after the light was added.
Before 
After
Edit and Experiment
Your unedited product is likely to be a bit uninspiring at first, but after you apply touch-ups and desired filters, the boring gray day will be transformed into a masterpiece! Editing allows you to add more contrast and depth, as well as fix any lighting spots that need attention.
Before editing 
After Editing
If you want to add some color to your gray sky portrait, you can always bring some gels along. A CTO gel is referring to a “color temperature orange” film to put on top of your camera, and CTB means “color temperature blue.” If you are working with darker colors, you can use a CTO gel to turn it to orange, or if you are working with the opposite you can counteract it with a CTB gel to enhance the tungsten.
Make sure to adjust your camera’s white balance settings manually if you decide to use gels. The gels can alter the color of the portrait or conflict with the natural light and create an overwhelming amount of one color, so you’ll want to combat the intensity of the gel with the appropriate adjustment.
With gel- original 
With gel-after editing
Creatively Capture
Let your creativity run free and see all the ways you can turn a gray sky into a colorful portrait. No reason to stay inside when it’s overcast! For more photography tips, visit The Shutter School blog and subscribe to the YouTube channel.
