That remains one of the eternally great questions? I even remember reading a book on the topic when I was in 3rd grade (early signs of a nerd). Anyway, that's not the topic here. Many of us take photos where the sky is NOT blue, but shows up kind of washed out. Some great photographers in the past figured out an elegant solution to the problem at the time of taking the image. It was called the gradual or split-neutral density filter

and allowed for a more balanced exposure of foreground with 'brightly illuminated' sky - basically, too much contrast for the film or digital sensor to accommodate without losing important information. Galen Rowell, pre-eminent wilderness and outdoor photographer, produced superb examples of balancing the exposure in the sky with the foreground and he taught the use of the split-ND filters to a posse of landscape photographers using color slide film. This was back in the day.

But in the digital age, we have no reason to take good balanced exposures, since all can be fixed in Photoshop or other image processing on a computer later; Right?

Kind of - Here's my quick and easy on it: On its effects tab, Picasa2 has an effect called, Graduated Tint, which can be used similarly to darken the sky, bring out the clouds, and feather, shade and merge gradually with the rest of the scene. I'm sure there are other techniques available but this has helped keep my skies blue and my balance and contrast under control. May the Schwartz be with you as you continue to have fun with photos.

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