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Photography Question 

Raman Chawla 		 

How to Accentuate the Blue Sky Over Mountains?


I recently visited a popular hill station in India at an altitude of about 3500 meters. The sky was already deep blue and some of the peaks were snow capped. I had used an automatic SLR camera with circular polarizing and warm up filters screwed on the lens. I was worried that the polarizer would make the sky more deep than what it was, but the results have disappointed me. What I have got is dull and light blue sky instead. The clouds have well defined features though. Will anybody explain to me where I went wrong?


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May 21, 2003

 

doug Nelson 		  Look at your negatives. Do they look thin, somewhat washed out? If you were shooting slides, do they look very dense? If either applies, you allowed the white peaks and generally bright area of the sky to cause the automated exposure to close down too much, thereby underexposing. The clouds look great, because your exposure was close to correct for them. I've made this mistake (too) many times.

You could have taken your light meter reading from the dark blue part of the sky. In a situation like this, use the optional spot meter of your camera, and meter from a mid-tone area. Or, if your camera doesn't have a spot meter, choose a mid tone area, take your meter reading, use AE lock (usually by pressing the shutter button down slightly), then compose your picture while holding the shutter partly down.

Additionally, in a tough metering situation like this, shoot a stop over and a stop under, then shoot maybe 1/2 stop over and 1/2 under. Alternatively, try using exposure compensation and metering full frame as you did before. Then set it for + 2 stops, shoot one at + 1 1/2, another at +1.

Try it without the polarizer and filter, and again with them. A word of caution: stacking filters will sometimes cause vignetting or darkened corners of your negatives.

Go back and try it again, and show us this wonderful place.


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May 22, 2003

 

George E. Givens Jr 		 
 
  Don Cesar Hotel, St. Petersburg, Fl.
Don Cesar Hotel, St. Petersburg, Fl.
Believe it or not this was taken with Olympus APS Pic 90 p&s just before noon from the beach shooting north. No polarizer was needed.

George E. Givens Jr

  
 
You left out too many variables. What kind of film were you using? What type of metering were you using? Why did you use a polarizer if the sky was already blue? Were you position at a 90 degree angle to sun as you should be when using a polarizer? Most times in the northern hemisphere if you shooting north, especially in the A.M., you do not need a polarizer because the sky is arealdy blue. Also, as the previous answer indicated, for important shots always bracket! Here is an example of a shot taken in the northern hemisphere with the camera pointed to north. I did not use a polarizer.


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May 25, 2003

 
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