Polarising

[Cuban]

Still very much in my infancy of photography, so could anyone please advise me on this?
I took the following shots last weekend and while it was overcast, the glare was punishing and there
was even a little mist.

I didn't have the luxury of time to stop and play with settings for very long, but as you can see,
the sky / clouds are over exposed in these shots.

My question is how much would a polarising filter have helped on this occasion?

[Arif110]

IMO - a polariser wouldn't have had any beneficial effect for the problem you iterate.

The greens are quite nice and saturdated as-is (well done!) - this was the only area it may have helped.

What would have helped with the washed-out sky problem - assuming that (like me) you ideally prefer to take the shot as you'd like it to be, rather than playing around in Photoshop later - is a soft neutral density filter. And then play around a bit with your aperture setting, previewing your depth-of-field - to see exactly how sharp the gradation appears in the image. Some of the church will have to be affected in this - but I think this can be quite a nice effect sometimes - i.e. darkening, broody top-half of photo - as long as it's done subtly.

'Decent' ND's simply and only reduce the amount of light reaching the lens where required - cheaper ones can add a (often magenta) colour cast - not neutral at all!!

Hope that helps...


(ETA - Fockin' 'ell!! Just had a look at your profile Graham - you're one heck of a big gun! If I'd known before - I'd probably have been reduced to a state of not daring to 'advise' you on anything!)

Edited by Arif110 on Friday 15th June 12:19

[imperialism2024]

Arif110 said:

IMO - a polariser wouldn't have had any beneficial effect for the problem you iterate.

+1

[GetCarter]

Yep either an ND grad or bracket the shot exposing one for the sky, one for the subject - then put the two together (either in PS or Photomatix).

Edit to add... todays 'picaday' has the heavy duty .9 grad on it

(click to unsquash)

Edited by GetCarter on Friday 15th June 12:22

[Cuban]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
ND grad was on the next shopping list, is a ND2 sufficient?

Steve, do you have any 'before' and 'after' shots that would show the result the
ND grad had on the sky?

As for being a "big gun", I've led an interesting life Arif110 (continue to do
so!) but never too old to learn new interests and I'm in awe at many of the people
on this forum.

[megy]

Cuban said:

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
ND grad was on the next shopping list, is a ND2 sufficient?

You can get a Cokin kit that contains the holder and 3 ND grad filters, I believe 2, 4 and 8. then all you need to get is the lens fitting adapter, about 4 quid on eBay. Cant remember the shop i got mine, but can email it over later, was £40 i think.

[GetCarter]

Cuban said:

Steve, do you have any 'before' and 'after' shots that would show the result the
ND grad had on the sky?

nope, but when I'm out sometime using the grad, I'll take it off for comparison

[Cuban]

GetCarter said:

Cuban said:

Steve, do you have any 'before' and 'after' shots that would show the result the
ND grad had on the sky?

nope, but when I'm out sometime using the grad, I'll take it off for comparison

Thanks, that would be interesting to see, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks also for the email...reply to follow.

[Cuban]

megy said:

Cuban said:

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
ND grad was on the next shopping list, is a ND2 sufficient?

You can get a Cokin kit that contains the holder and 3 ND grad filters, I believe 2, 4 and 8. then all you need to get is the lens fitting adapter, about 4 quid on eBay. Cant remember the shop i got mine, but can email it over later, was £40 i think.

Thanks, if you could send the details that would be great.

[JohnS]

http://www.filterdepot.co.uk/product_info.php?cPat...

has the three filters and holder for £47

[DH2]

SpeedGraphic seemed the best price when I got mine a month or so ago.
http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/prod.asp?i=3376&...

DH2

[megy]

Cuban said:

megy said:

Cuban said:

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
ND grad was on the next shopping list, is a ND2 sufficient?

You can get a Cokin kit that contains the holder and 3 ND grad filters, I believe 2, 4 and 8. then all you need to get is the lens fitting adapter, about 4 quid on eBay. Cant remember the shop i got mine, but can email it over later, was £40 i think.

Thanks, if you could send the details that would be great.

This is where i got mine from, £40 plus p&p.
http://www.thedigitalcamerashop.co.uk/product_deta...

DH2 said:

SpeedGraphic seemed the best price when I got mine a month or so ago.
http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/prod.asp?i=3376&...

DH2

Seems the cheapest one!

Edited by megy on Friday 15th June 15:43