 Posted 5/11/2008 4:48:56 PM
|
|
|
|
I've seen this a number of times, so I thought I would let you enlighten me. Occasionally, you see a shot with a sky that is almost midnight blue in color. Is this from an overuse of a polarizing filter or what? To me, it seems a little like overkill and appears unnatural.
Go when you can, go where you can, shoot what you can
|
|
|
Posted 5/11/2008 7:14:19 PM
|
|
|
|
| Are these daytime shots? I know that when I shoot at dusk I sometimes naturally get a strong midnight blue color...
|
|
|
Posted 5/11/2008 10:07:10 PM
|
|
|
|
No, these are daytime shots, and usually it's just part of the sky, which is why it looks a little "off" to me.
Go when you can, go where you can, shoot what you can
|
|
|
Posted 5/12/2008 2:35:15 AM
|
|
|
|
Stormhaven (5/11/2008)
No, these are daytime shots, and usually it's just part of the sky, which is why it looks a little "off" to me.
Do you mean like the sky in this image?
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s33/hahn23/AspenColors_4549PolarDA.jpg
This is not adjusted in postprocessing. The shot was captured at 10,000 feet elevation on an extremely clear day. There were no clouds and never is air pollution, dust or humidity in the air up there. It's what I call a double 90 degree angle to the sun. The sun was about 10:00 high in the sky, and I was shooting at a 90 degree angle to the azimuth and the altitude of the sun. Hence.... a double polarizing effect. And, yes, you can overdo the polarizing effect. I actually like the aspen colors against the dark blue/black sky. I entered it in the contest, but it was not appreciated, nor understood. Took too much to explain what this was. So, the image only represents a good experiment.
 My Top 24
|
|
|
Posted 5/12/2008 6:24:45 AM
|
|
|
|
However, the image linked above is an unusual situation... most often seen in the mountain atmosphere. The more common situation for all photographers who live in lower elevations, who use their polarizing filter, is to see banding across a scene. The image below shows classic banding.
The lesson here is to avoid using your polarizing filter with wide angle lenses. As mentioned in my post above, the polarizing effect varies and is most strong at 90 degrees from the sun. So, if your wide angle lens has a field of view of say 120 degrees, you could have a lot of banding across the scene. Just as a rule of thumb, I think a polarizing filter is okay on lens focal lengths of 60mm or longer.
My Top 24
|
|
|
Posted 5/13/2008 4:55:05 PM
|
|
|
|
Richard, what I'm referring to is somewhat similar to your link, but not that drastic. It is not the "banding" mentioned either. If you were looking from foreground to eternity, some part of the sky would be naturally colored, and other parts would be a dark blue. It's hard for me to describe this accurately, not having an example in front of me. I'm guessing, though, that the phenomenon has something to do with a polarizing filter.
Go when you can, go where you can, shoot what you can
|
|
|
|
