Distant landscapes come out muddy

[MercSoldier]

Whenever I take distant landscape photos, a lot of the content has this kind of muddy look to it. In this photo, the cars to the left aren't crisp at all. Neither are the trees. They just look bleh. Can anyone tell me what is going on with my photos?

 

[The_Traveler]

You have uploaded an image without the embedded exif on focal length, camera data, shutter speed, aperture.
Can you tell us what those are?
Where you using a tripod?

More than likely this is atmospheric haze, moisture hanging in the air above a moist substrate.

 

[MercSoldier]

Whoops, sorry about that

Exif | Sausalito | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I was not using a tripod, but with IS and the shutter speed, I wouldn't think it would matter.

If it is haze, what is the best way to cut through that?

 

[dbvirago]

Go back about 4 hours later

 

[TimCarol]

Go back about 4 hours later

I agree here. I think that there is little to no lighting effect going on right here. If you come back later when the sun is lower in the sky, then it will make everything look much better.

 

[nonamexx]

With such shots, I usually up the saturation and adjust colour curves if necessary to make the photo stand out a bit more. Most landscape shots in mid-day tend to be washed out especially if the sun is out. This is more the case in the tropics where I live. Skies are literally white or steel blue-grey even to the human eye.

Normally if you are a tourist going to exotic locales and on a tight schedule, you wouldn't be able to visit the same spot twice. So it comes down to luck and timing, but it can also possibly be fixed with a bit of Postprocess work.

 

[nonamexx]

Here's an example after two minutes with GIMP.

What have I done?

First, adjusted colour curves to make the sky a little darker. Then used tone-mapping. Then increased the saturation and finally sharpened the image a bit. Landscapes and trees in the distance look better when slightly sharpened.