Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

[stuarttunstall]

I am still getting to grips with my 7D, and taking some practice shots, playing with settings etc...so, having purchased a Kood polariser I decided to go out the front of the house to compare shots, with and without.... i am obsessed with getting a nice blue sky, so I thought this would help..... I think it has...

Below are two images, one with, one without... picture with seems to look better to me (novice talking ;) ) bear in mind I appreciate that these filters are designed to work with the sun at right angles.... I was standing in the shade.....

The post filter is darker..... but both are "as shot" no work done in Photoshop Elements

Pre Filter


Pre Filter by Stuart_Tunstall, on Flickr

Post Filter


Post Filter by Stuart_Tunstall, on Flickr

Keep practising :)

Stuart

[Pinkeez]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

They do make a difference don't they Stuart. Definitely a nice blue sky!
Lovely looking location you have there, very photogenic

[Longshot]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

They do make a difference don't they Stuart. Definitely a nice blue sky!
Lovely looking location you have there, very photogenic

I'm another novice, very interested in the result as I'm also wanting to improve, fed up with blown away sky !

Graham

[SamFisher]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

For blown skies, an ND Grad filter is what you need.
Polarizers have to be at 90 degrees to the sun to be effective

Mike

[briansquibb]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

With a rotating filter it can be turned to be effective

One of the problems at this time of year is the overcast day when it is extremely difficult to lose the blown out sky look. I had this last weekend when the sky was just a uniform grey - about the same as the wb grey.

ND grads are not the answer to everything - they only really work with a reasonably straight line. An ND grad would have spoilt your test picture as it would have dulled the tree.

Look at my picture of the Chesil Beach which was taken with a polariser.

[Trevoreast]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

I found many of my blue sky problems wrre caused by not being aware where the sun is and photographing landmarks etc despite of where the sun is.
It's funny because I've read the advice on packs of film (re sun postion) loads of times, and disregarded it as 'too patronisingly obvious' :-)

I need to go to places when the light is good, that may well be at an inconvient time, for me that's the challenge of landscape work, you can't schedule it and nothing is guaranteed. :-)

Trev

[Woolley]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

Polairzer won't stop a blown sky if there's a big difference in light between it and the subject, you do need an ND for that (subject to Brian's caveat about where the line is). What it will do is darken the sky at some angles, give you lovely clearly defined clouds and saturate colours by removing reflections (scattered light). That last is particularly effective with trees in leaf and light coloured buildings which pick up definition and strengthen colour in a natural looking way.

[DianaS]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

All very interesting advice! #2 has turned out well - I'd just lighten up the foreground a bit in pp.
Dio

[stuarttunstall]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

Thanks for the comments and advice... Practice...Get good advice from here;) .... Practice.... Learn :)

More images will follow.....

Stuart

[briansquibb]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

If all else fails - use HDR

[jonesgj]

Re: Trying out a polariser .... still practicing :)

Re Blown skies - I'm no expert, but I usually adjust the exposure compensation down by a stop, and make sure I know how my camera is averaging the light measurement. I always shoot raw and that way can play with the levels in Camera Raw post shoot. If that fails, because I have slightly under exposed the shot, I can layer two versions in CS and use a gradient filter to lighten the forground and leave the skies with the contrast they need. I'm usually pleased with the results.

Hope this helps.