No Polarizing filter & blown skies!???? :-(

ATHRoss · 9 Mar 2006 at 21:29

I took a couple of images today but am really unhapy with the sky in both.

#1 Looking west

#2 Looking east

Apart from getting a polarizing filter (any recommendations would be very useful though) how do I control/manage this area of photography?

I appreciate that the content can/should be better but I was trying to master the tripod.......

regards

ATHRoss

Cuchulain · 9 Mar 2006 at 21:33

ATHRoss said:
I took a couple of images today but am really unhapy with the sky in both.

#1 Looking west

#2 Looking east

Apart from getting a polarizing filter (any recommendations would be very useful though) how do I control/manage this area of photography?

I appreciate that the content can/should be better but I was trying to master the tripod.......

regards

ATHRoss

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, which isn't my intention, did you check the histogram after taking the shot? Looks like you needed to dial in some negative exposure compensation.

ATHRoss · 9 Mar 2006 at 21:37

No I didn't check the histogram after taking the shot.........

And no, you are not sounding sarcastic, just helpful.

I have found recently that the more I think about my photography, the more there is to forget to check/do/look at etc.

For example, I recently took 100 shots at a football match with my IAO set at 3200 (was playing with camera!) and once I realised, I was gutted......

Thanks for the reminder, I should remember to review that next time and then take my exposure down a bit.

regards

ATHRoss

Cuchulain · 9 Mar 2006 at 21:41

ATHRoss said:
No I didn't check the histogram after taking the shot.........

And no, you are not sounding sarcastic, just helpful.

I have found recently that the more I think about my photography, the more there is to forget to check/do/look at etc.

For example, I recently took 100 shots at a football match with my IAO set at 3200 (was playing with camera!) and once I realised, I was gutted......

Thanks for the reminder, I should remember to review that next time and then take my exposure down a bit.

regards

ATHRoss

Heh, I only mentioned it because I always forget to check it and I end up filling a couple of cards with nothing I can actually use, ended up leaving 1/3-2/3 stops negative EV, most of the time you can bring detail out of darkness.

SDK^ · 9 Mar 2006 at 21:44

Shoot RAW and expose for the highlights, then recover shadow detail during image conversion

Colin_da_Killer · 9 Mar 2006 at 21:44

What I do might be considered lazy photography or even cheating but I always expose so that the sky is at a good exposure even if my foreground is dark, then when I get home I load up photoshop, duplicate layer, up the exposure till the forground is nicely visible and then wash out the burnt out sky on the second layer, leaving me with a well exposed image for sky and foreground.

SCM · 9 Mar 2006 at 22:20

I've started to keep a few ND Grad filters with me now so any sky shots or landscapes being captured and i bung a filter on. Has started to make my skies more detailed than before.

SCM

Mohain · 9 Mar 2006 at 22:28

ATHRoss said:
No I didn't check the histogram after taking the shot.........

I've found this article very helpful and this to practise as much as you can.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 10 Mar 2006 at 01:34

Stack some ND Grads on that bad boy. However if the sky really is just plain white clouds.. a polarising filter will retain some details along the outlines if you expose correctly. Chances are you "will" have to photoshop a tad.

Sysagent · 10 Mar 2006 at 14:09

Aye the answer is getting some NDGrads and using them to even out the exposure across the shot..

I just got a full set of Cokin NDGrads which includes:-

Cokin P121 - ND8, 3 stops
Cokin P121S - ND8, Softer graduation
Cokin P121M - ND4, 2 stops
Cokin P121L - ND2, 1 stop
Cokin P121F - ND8, Graduation starts immediately at bottom
Cokin P Series filter holder and book

Also an adapter ring and the total cost including VAT and PP was £57.98 which is an extremely good deal..

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:39

That is a good deal. I got the
P series set
ND 2 / 4 Grad. Very useful.

SCM · 10 Mar 2006 at 16:46

Sysagent said:
Aye the answer is getting some NDGrads and using them to even out the exposure across the shot..

I just got a full set of Cokin NDGrads which includes:-

Cokin P121 - ND8, 3 stops
Cokin P121S - ND8, Softer graduation
Cokin P121M - ND4, 2 stops
Cokin P121L - ND2, 1 stop
Cokin P121F - ND8, Graduation starts immediately at bottom
Cokin P Series filter holder and book

Also an adapter ring and the total cost including VAT and PP was £57.98 which is an extremely good deal..

Looks like the same deal i got as well

although i got another adaptor ring so both my main lens are covered.

SCM

Sysagent · 10 Mar 2006 at 16:48

Or failing the expense of NDGrads you could always try bracketing you're shots and then trying this technique:-

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml

I have just tried it on a bracketed shot that I thought was gonna be unretrievable but it has made it "Blogworthy" now...