I recently was in Yosemite Valley hoping to shoot some beautiful landscapes. Unfortunately the sky was very glary (both morning and evening)and lacked enough blue to make an orange or red filter effective. I tried to avoid the sky as much as possible, but not always possible. Can anyone advise me on improving the quality of sky other than burning during printing? Thanks, Bob

-- Bob Passage (bgpassage@earthlink.net), November 05, 1999

Answers

Might try using a red filter and a polarizing filter together. But you really have to watch your exposure then. It's easy to get everything too dark. Or you could use a graduated filter. One that darkens one area of the frame. But personally, I think graduated filters are a but much. Kind of like some of the hocus pocus you see the TV guys do. Try the red and polarizer together.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), November 05, 1999.

Using both a red filter and polarizer will force you to open up at least three stops and may be not practical. Try a circular polarizer by itself. They work best when sun is at 90 degree angle to subject. they're a little expensive (around $40), but are well worth it if you follow instructions.

-- John Laragh (jwl@taconic.net), November 08, 1999.

Caution: Overdarkening of the sky may make your pictures look like those very dated 1930s-40s pix in U.S. Camera, including many of HRH Ansel Adams. As the kids say, "Lighten up a little." Every picture is not a Moonrise, you know.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), November 08, 1999.