Hazy skies and landscape photography

[New Hampshire]

Hey folks,

I am in the lucky position of being able to visit and photograph the White Mountains National Forest a lot. The unfortunate thing is that from late spring untill the fall season the climate around here loves to dump a lot of haze and humidity in the air. This of course can really kill a good landscape scene. To further add to the problem it really makes no difference when you photograph....the early mornings are just as (if not MORE sometimes) hazy than the afternoons and late evenings. So I am wondering if there are any techniques or perhaps filters that could help make the images more appealing? I have been reading a lot about Waming/warm-up and skylight filters. And as well I understand that perhaps a polarizer will help out a bit too. I know I am not going to get the good sharpness that any other circumstance would provide, but I guess my hope is to take a bit of the purplish blue out of the background mountains and darken them up a bit to better contrast against the sky.

Anyone have any ideas, thoughts or comments on the filters?

Brian

 

[New Hampshire]

Here is an example of what I am dealing with. This was just a "snapshot" taken with my digital point-and-shoot camera and an exmple of what I am talking about only (i.e. not an example of great photography .)See what I mean. Awfully blue and the Mountains sort of don't "Pop" at you because they are shaded so close to the color of the sky.Brian

 

[simonkit]

Hi,

I've used the following "unsharp mask" (USM) settings in photoshop to improve similar shots - sometimes it works very well, other times not but it's worth a try

USM ---- amount=50, RAD=100, THR=0


simon

 

[oCyrus55]

You could try a UV filter or polarizer.

 

[Alpha]

If you're shooting any b&w, a blue or green filter should help. You could try an ND filter, but you'd have to really up the contrast in post-processing.

 

[JIP]

one word POLARISER the only thing that will take the haze out of your image before you shoot it rather than try and take it out later with photoshop.

 

[New Hampshire]

Thanks everyone!Good to know the polarizer will help. I just ordered a new prime lens and the first thing I did was I had ordered a ploarizing lens for it! Ill look at the UV as well.Brian