Camera Lighting Equipment

How do you get the Dramatic Sky in an outside photo shoot?

I am doing a Photo Shoot tomorrow around 2pm and 5pm (not very sunny) and wanted to know how i can get the fabulous dramatic sky behind my model? Equipment I have: - Nikon D300 - Nikon Sb-900 x 2 - Nikkor 50mm AF-S lens - Nikkor 18-200mm VR Lens - Large Reflector - Lastolit Ezybox Thank you in advance for you opinions.

Public Comments

1. The golden hours (sunrise and sunset) will give you the most dramatic skies. Meter for the background, then use your flash to add enough fill on your subject to match the background. You should come out with some beautiful results!
2. First, you talk to God and arrange for the perfect sky... OK, seriously though you somewhat at the mercy of what the day gives you. Some things that can help bring out some drama in the sky would be a polarizer or a yellow filter. The yellow filter blocks blue, which darkens the sky. Of course, everything is yellow so it works best with black and white pictures. The polarizer will reduce glare and darken the sky some. It will also bring out a little more definition in the clouds. Something you can do, is set your exposure a little low and use the flash to make up the difference in the subject. In short, you are creating more contrast between the background and the subject with your lighting. That way you can work with a featureless sky or one that has some natural drama.