odd question?

[fightheheathens]

so not really sure where this should go....


the question is, does altitude affect how blue a sky appears on film.


i recently got back some film i shot at Yosemite (in may ... cough cough lazy)
and all the skys are really not so blue. I shoot with a polarizer and generally aim my shots 90 degrees to the sun to get the most effect. additionally i was using velvia which tends to over saturate colors.
maybe it was one roll you say, or just that day. However a friend of mine who is also a photographer was in yosemite a while ago and also had the same problem. almost all of his skys were washed out. (both of us never had trouble with this sort of stuff at lower altitudes)
all of the shots with washed out skys were at 9,000 feet or higher.
is this just a fluke or has anyone heard of this? and if so, is there a way to correct?
i dont use a UV filter when i have a polarizer on...if that matters

 

[Flash Harry]

If you were letting the cameras control exposure then I'd say you were both underexposing, with slide film exposure works opposite to neg, in that overexposure would achieve the washed out look in the finished product, underexposing by a third to half a stop in normal conditions would give a more saturated finish but in extremely bright conditions you may have to u/expose by 1 to 3 stops for good saturation. H

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Sky appears blue due to Rayleigh scattering.
The more atmosphere light has to travel through, the more light is scattered.
As you move to higher altitudes the sky overhead should get darker than usual (less atmosphere) but towards the horizon it tends to get lighter than usual (more atmosphere).
However, as Rayleigh scattering is caused by atoms and particles in the atmosphere things like humidity and polution can change things. And then there are clouds and mist.
This may not be the reason why you suffered a problem, though.
High UV levels can cause problems - as can other factors (like your method of metering). And it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that you both got the exposure wrong

 

[Big Mike]

I've found that there can be more haze up in the mountains. We were calling it 'heat haze'. It was clear, early in the morning but as the day grew hotter, the air had a haze that would wash out some sky color and take away contrast from distant mountains.

 

[Jeff Canes]

Likely UV haze, very typical at high altitudes in the summer, shot in the morning as Mike recommends or go back in the winter

 

[fightheheathens]

well, with slide film i bracket a full stop in either direction and all of my exposures be it +1, -1 or right on had a lighter sky.


Hertz, i think you may have it. I looked through the slides again, and the ones where i am pointing my camera up...(think looking up Yosemite falls) the sky is quite blue, but all the "landscape" shots of the vally from the top of the falls where i have more land then sky in the shot, the sky is much lighter