Why am I getting haze?

[Northoceanbeach]

Beginning photographer. Four months. Nikon j1.

Im im primarily shooting landscapes. This was a beautiful day. Three hours past the suns peak. To my eye the sky was a pretty good blue, but the photos have a white haze.

the sun was 50-90 degrees to my right. Some of my shots had a circular polarizer, some had a lens hood. All have This haze.

and and today is not the first time. I often see a blue sky and get haze. Here are two unedited examples from today. It's ruining my pictures though.

 

[Richard Weisgrau]

You are getting aerial haze that lingers in the sky in many locations unless there is a reasonable wind to move it. The lower the sun gets the more visible it can become as the sun reflects of the particles that make the haze. You can try to mi

 

[pixelarge]

Well you got what was there in the environment. Using a polarizing filter will definitely help with your issue. good luck

 

[hesbehindyou]

To my eye the sky was a pretty good blue, but the photos have a white haze.

the sun was 50-90 degrees to my right. Some of my shots had a circular polarizer, some had a lens hood. All have This haze.

It may be that the sky is slightly overexposed (and the land properly exposed). Experiment with exposing for the sky.

Make sure you're using the circular polariser properly - are you turning it to get the sky darker/bluer?

 

[Northoceanbeach]

How do you know which side of the circular polarizer is which? The LCD screen is impossible to tell, and there is nt a this side up on the polarizer itself.

 

[mike703]

How do you know which side of the circular polarizer is which? The LCD screen is impossible to tell, and there is nt a this side up on the polarizer itself.

The CP filter should only attach one way around as it has a filter thread that screws it onto the front of the lens - I imagine it would not be possible to mount it the wrong way around. What the previous poster was saying is that you need to rotate the front of the CP filter to get the best effect which will depend on the position of the sun relative to you. So hold the camera in one hand and turn the front part of the CP filter with the other until you see the richest colours for the sky, then shoot.

The CP filter reduces polarised light from reflections. The haze you are seeing is light reflected off particles in the air (which is normal - you are seeing what is there). So a CP filter should be able to eliminate some of this and give contrastier, more vibrant pictures with richer colours.

Also make sure you use the lens hood too. If sunlight is hitting the front of the lens at an angle you could get flare which will have a simiilar effect.

Best wishes

 

[mike703]

A little post-processing will help to rescue shots (to some extent). Your second one is overexposed with bright white areas in the sky with no detail so the problem is partly your exposure. Also it is hazy. About 60 seconds with photoshop elements produced this version:

revised version of your second shot


... I darkened it slightly (globally); reduced the highlights in brightness (mostly the sky) further, used the 'unsharp mask' command with 18% amount and 30 pixel radius to boost contrast in detailed areas and edges; and increased saturation on the sky area. There's a limit to what you can do but it is worth learning as careful editing can make a big difference sometimes.

Best wishes

--
Mike

http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/mikeward

 

[hotdog321]

How do you know which side of the circular polarizer is which? The LCD screen is impossible to tell, and there is nt a this side up on the polarizer itself.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things--lens hood, polarizer. But you do need to turn the polarizer while looking at the screen to see the effect. It can vary from almost nothing to extremely dark (or uneven if you aren't careful!)

I have heard (never seen personally) that occasionally a cheap polarizer will be installed backwards in the filter ring. You can check by holding your polarizer up to your computer's LCD monitor and turning it. The polarizing effect should make the monitor almost turn black.

A polarizer will cut aerial haze to an amazing extent if the light is right (coming from the side.) Check out the difference between these two shots:

 

[Northoceanbeach]

Thanks! I didn't mean side of the polarizer is which, like which side screws on, I meant which side is the darker side and which is lighter. It might be labeled. It has a little triangle on one side. That could mean it's the most polarized side. It's hard to tell in bright sun from looking at the LCD screen what changes take place when you rotate the polarizer.

Im im using this one.

Loading…

www.promaster.com

 

[mike703]

Thanks! I didn't mean side of the polarizer is which, like which side screws on, I meant which side is the darker side and which is lighter.

Are you getting confused with a graduated filter which has a dark 'top' and clear 'bottom' to bring colour to skies? A CP filter is the same colour all over... its effect depends on which angle the front elements is with respect to the back element and it will affect all of the image equally.

Best wishes

 

[Serickmetz]

Dang, thought this was a cannabis discussion

Btw, what city is that?

 

[Northoceanbeach]

Eugene oregon

 

[Mark S Abeln]

Thanks! I didn't mean side of the polarizer is which, like which side screws on, I meant which side is the darker side and which is lighter. It might be labeled. It has a little triangle on one side. That could mean it's the most polarized side. It's hard to tell in bright sun from looking at the LCD screen what changes take place when you rotate the polarizer.

Typically you point the marker towards the direction of the sun — or equivalently, directly opposite the sun. Polarizers work best when you are pointing the camera at a right angle to the sun.

You might want to experiment with the polarizer when it is not attached to the camera.

As others mentioned, post processing on the camera can save the image. Also, you camera has settings, like contrast, that might give you a stronger image.

 

[Northoceanbeach]

I might be getting cpl confused with graduated.

I am under the impression that the cpl has different levels of polarization and that is the reason, that once screwed onto the lens, it spins.

I don't really know how it works I guess. I don't think it is half dark half clear, but more of a subtle level of difference. If you look at the link, you can see the triangle I am talking about. I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that that side points at the sky, or if you want the most polarizing effect for water, you point that directly down, and the most polarizing effect is pointed at the water.

 

[Serickmetz]

Eugene oregon

Haha wow I was thinking it was . I'm just south in north bend but I use to live there. I have a ton of places between here and Eugene I want to take pictures of this summer!

 

[Leonard Migliore]

I might be getting cpl confused with graduated.

I am under the impression that the cpl has different levels of polarization and that is the reason, that once screwed onto the lens, it spins.

I don't really know how it works I guess. I don't think it is half dark half clear, but more of a subtle level of difference. If you look at the link, you can see the triangle I am talking about. I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that that side points at the sky, or if you want the most polarizing effect for water, you point that directly down, and the most polarizing effect is pointed at the water.

You're better off knowing how it works:

Loading…

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mark S Abeln]

I might be getting cpl confused with graduated.

I am under the impression that the cpl has different levels of polarization and that is the reason, that once screwed onto the lens, it spins.

I don't really know how it works I guess. I don't think it is half dark half clear, but more of a subtle level of difference. If you look at the link, you can see the triangle I am talking about. I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that that side points at the sky, or if you want the most polarizing effect for water, you point that directly down, and the most polarizing effect is pointed at the water.

There are two kinds of polarization that you have to know about.

One is the polarization of light that comes for Rayleigh scattering, which is the process of light scattering off of the molecules that make up air, turning the sky blue and the sun orange in color. The light scattered from the sky is polarized, and the polarizing filter reduces this polarized light, making it darker. The marker should be pointed towards the sun for the greatest darkening effect on the blue sky.

The other process is specular reflection, which is the phenomenon where light at a low angle glances off a smooth surface like a mirror, and all frequencies of light are reflected equally. The polarizing filter will reduce these specular reflections, and will show instead the true color of the object you are photographing — this is an old trick to make a scene look more saturated. Come to think of it, I don't remember what angle to set the polarizer — I just turn it until the reflections are reduced.

 

[Mystery member]

I am under the impression that the cpl has different levels of polarization and that is the reason, that once screwed onto the lens, it spins.

I don't really know how it works I guess. I don't think it is half dark half clear, but more of a subtle level of difference. If you look at the link, you can see the triangle I am talking about. I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that that side points at the sky, or if you want the most polarizing effect for water, you point that directly down, and the most polarizing effect is pointed at the water.

All I can say is that you can't be very adventurous. You just put the filter on and turn it until you get the effect you want. What else would you do with a CP filter?