Shooting into the sun?

[BrettG]

Mainly for landscapes, I recently bought a polarizing filter for my lens and took a trip out to this scenic overlook to test it out. When I got there, the overlook was facing the direction that the sun was in at the time. Even with the polarizer on, the sky was barely blue, more of a washed out gray. Is there any way to avoid this, other than just avoiding shots into the sun?

 

[Big Mike]

A polarizing filter will have maximum effect when used at 90 degrees to the sun. So, yes, avoid shots into the sun when you want to get nice blue skies with your filter.