Tip: Polarize that sky (without a polarizer) __ 06/2008

Image 3. Lightroom Develop

Edited 3/3/2013. In the March, ’08 tip I discussed “the only filter”—the polarizer—a filter that hasn’t gone away with digital, and whose hallmark is a deep, blue sky. Of course, if this was the only thing a polarizer was good for, it would go the dustbin route of other filters. But a dramatic blue sky […]

Photo Tip: The Only Filter (Polarizer) ___ 03/2008

In days of pre-digital yore, outdoor photographers carried a bunch of filters. The essentials were warming, split-neutral density (ND) and polarizing. But with different filter thread sizes for various lenses, additional filters or adaptor rings were often required. Then to top it off, serious shooters carried as many as four split ND filters—or certainly at […]

Photo Tip: Beat the Gray Sky Blues ___ 04/2007

The Northwest (US) where I live features some of the planet’s grayest skies, a nightmare of gray on gray for sometimes unending weeks at a time. In summer, on the coast, it mostly ruins photography while kayaking, but those same gray sky conditions present opportunities as well. Just ask Ansel Adams. A gray sky provides […]