Using a polarizing filter

I've been using a COZO brand circular polarizing filter on a Nikon D70 for
outdoor shots, and am puzzled by the way the sky often appears almost gray
rather than, say, a brighter blue. I think I'm aligning it properly, as the
clouds stand out as expected. I then have to use the "levels" command in PS
to get the colors and brightness back to what I would expect.

Is this the usual situation, or am I doing something wrong - e.g., should I
increase the exposure by a an f-stop or alter the white balance, etc to get
this right in camera?

Thanks

Alan

Does it matter Alan?

You seem to have found a good solution that works for you - stick with it

Artie

"AK" wrote in
message ...
I've been using a COZO brand circular polarizing filter on a Nikon D70
for
outdoor shots, and am puzzled by the way the sky often appears almost gray
rather than, say, a brighter blue. I think I'm aligning it properly, as
the
clouds stand out as expected. I then have to use the "levels" command in
PS
to get the colors and brightness back to what I would expect.

Is this the usual situation, or am I doing something wrong - e.g., should
I
increase the exposure by a an f-stop or alter the white balance, etc to
get
this right in camera?

Thanks

Alan

Does it matter Alan?

You seem to have found a good solution that works for you - stick with it

Artie

"AK" wrote in
message ...
I've been using a COZO brand circular polarizing filter on a Nikon D70
for
outdoor shots, and am puzzled by the way the sky often appears almost gray
rather than, say, a brighter blue. I think I'm aligning it properly, as
the
clouds stand out as expected. I then have to use the "levels" command in
PS
to get the colors and brightness back to what I would expect.

Is this the usual situation, or am I doing something wrong - e.g., should
I
increase the exposure by a an f-stop or alter the white balance, etc to
get
this right in camera?

Thanks

Alan

"AK" wrote in
message ...
I've been using a COZO brand circular polarizing filter on a Nikon D70
for
outdoor shots, and am puzzled by the way the sky often appears almost gray
rather than, say, a brighter blue. I think I'm aligning it properly, as
the
clouds stand out as expected. I then have to use the "levels" command in
PS
to get the colors and brightness back to what I would expect.

Is this the usual situation, or am I doing something wrong - e.g., should
I
increase the exposure by a an f-stop or alter the white balance, etc to
get
this right in camera?

A good polarizer shouldn't alter the white balance, but it wouldn't hurt to
change the WB if you have any doubts.

How are you metering your shots? If you're spot-metering off the clouds and
using a polarizer, then the normally blue sky would be *very* dark, as your
metering would put the clouds at 18% grey and adjust everything else
accordingly and clouds are often _very_ bright, meaning other things are
relatively much darker. When I use a polarizer and take pictures in which
clouds are the predominant feature, I sometimes meter off the clouds and
bump up the exposure compensation somewhere between +1/3 and +2 EV,
depending on the particular effect I'm trying to achieve.


Next time you load one of your darker photos into Photoshop, take a look at
its histogram--that'll give you some guidance about compensation.

"AK" wrote in
message ...
I've been using a COZO brand circular polarizing filter on a Nikon D70
for
outdoor shots, and am puzzled by the way the sky often appears almost gray
rather than, say, a brighter blue. I think I'm aligning it properly, as
the
clouds stand out as expected. I then have to use the "levels" command in
PS
to get the colors and brightness back to what I would expect.

Is this the usual situation, or am I doing something wrong - e.g., should
I
increase the exposure by a an f-stop or alter the white balance, etc to
get
this right in camera?

A good polarizer shouldn't alter the white balance, but it wouldn't hurt to
change the WB if you have any doubts.

How are you metering your shots? If you're spot-metering off the clouds and
using a polarizer, then the normally blue sky would be *very* dark, as your
metering would put the clouds at 18% grey and adjust everything else
accordingly and clouds are often _very_ bright, meaning other things are
relatively much darker. When I use a polarizer and take pictures in which
clouds are the predominant feature, I sometimes meter off the clouds and
bump up the exposure compensation somewhere between +1/3 and +2 EV,
depending on the particular effect I'm trying to achieve.


Next time you load one of your darker photos into Photoshop, take a look at
its histogram--that'll give you some guidance about compensation.

"Arte Phacting" wrote in message
...
Does it matter Alan?

You seem to have found a good solution that works for you - stick with it

Artie

Yes, it matters: Underexposed digital photos contain more noise than
properly-exposed photos and sometimes essential detail is lost in the
shadows, too. IMHO, it's best to push the exposure histogram as much to the
right as possible (without blowing out too much detail, of course)-- this
will give you the most room for post-processing and achieving good prints.