Sky COMPLETELY blown out even with CP =[

[rasheemo]

hey guys, i went to NYC and did some random shooting to see what i could get. i have a sigma 17-70 and a hoya CP. there were lots of clouds in the sky but plenty of blue as well.

most of my picture(s) was buildings and about 1/3 was sky, and no matter where the polarizer was positioned, the sky was blown out! i couldn't figure out what i was doing wrong =[

do i need to add a 4 stop grad ND filter too?

ill post an example if you need it

 

[goodoneian]

post an example

 

[Professor Zero]

A circular polarizer will not prevent blown out skies. You need a graduated neutral density filter.

 

[Tolyk]

A circular polarizer will not prevent blown out skies. You need a graduated neutral density filter.

What they said.

In regards to your question, no, a 4 stop ND filter would not accomplish what you want to do. That would darken the entire scene, and your exposure would still come out looking the same (if you expose for the same parts)

The other way, aside from a gradual neutral density, would be to manually expose and go half way between your highlights and your shadows, and then bracket and combine them with HDR.

 

[rasheemo]

oh whoops, thats what i meant, graduated ND filter.

so the sky can be too bright for a polarizer? didn't know that. thanks guys

 

[rasheemo]

so let me just get one more thing straight. polarizers don't reduce light enough even to prevent a blown out sky?

 

[Tolyk]

CPs reduce the light by one or two stops, on the entire scene. The exposure meter adjusts and compensates for this reduction. Therefore your sky will still be over exposed if you expose for the shadows.

 

[epp_b]

It would be helpful if you would post examples that include EXIF data, but the other replies have pointed out the main points: use ND grad filters and bracketing when necessary.

 

[Montana]

And taking pics of buildings and a skyline is going to be hard to do with a grad ND because they are in a straight line. Exposing in between or for the sky is worth a try. Otherwise you'll have to do some serious postprocessing. Overlaying properly exposed sky and porperly exposed building photos. Circular polarizers in my experience are not the most effective during midday either.

Derrick

 

[rasheemo]

 

[maulrat]

That one looks tough to bring out the sky even with a graduated ND. My suggestion would be to slightly underexpose your photo to try to get a little more detail in the sky, yet that might turn the people in your photos to complete shadows. Then when post processing, make 2 copies of your original. Leave the original on the bottom and untouched. 1st copy use to adjust exposure. 2nd copy use to adjust the sky; perhaps some saturation, color balance, D&B, etc. then layer mask the sky into your 1st copy.

That's just my 2bit suggestion. You might be able to get away with doing that to the photo you provided. Maybe I'll give it a go when I get off work. G'luck

 

[maulrat]

10 minute quickie but you get the idea.

 

[swmocity]

10 minute quickie but you get the idea.

wow nice edit

 

[tirediron]

Remember, to get maximum effect out of a circular polarizer, the sun should be low in the sky (early morning, evening) and as close to 90 degrees to your lens axis as possible. The higher in the sky and closer to your shooting direction the sun gets, the less the CPOLs effect will be.

 

[danjchau]

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