Polarizing the Sky in Color and B&W
Polarizers have an almost magical effect on photography. Polarizers selectively remove light from certain axis, while allowing light from other axis to pass through. While there are a variety of applications for polarizers in photography (foliage, water, windows, etc) for this article I want to discuss specifically polarizing the sky. Conceptually, we’re going to examine these five scenarios for polarizing the sky:
Digital camera, color photography
Digital black & white photography using a color digital camera
Digital black & white photography using a monochrome digital camera
Film color photography
Film black & white photography
Digital Camera, Color Photography
A polarizer is a terrific tool for adding drama to your skies in color photography. Light is scattered throughout the atmosphere and oftentimes the sky appears bright blue, lacking definition and drama. The polarizer can instantly give your skies drama, and often there is a positive corollary effect on foliage as well. Let’s use these two images from the Grand Teton National Park as an example.
The two images were taken just moments apart, yet appear very different. The non-polarized image appears dull and hazy. The polarized image is a significant improvement. First, the sky is a dark, almost navy blue. This gives a clear delineation in the composition between the sky and the mountains. Also, because of the great distance between the camera and the mountains, there is a significant amount of haze visible in the mountains. The polarizer eliminates that haze. Additionally, the color of the foliage is richer and much improved. Using the polarizer here is clearly the right choice.
This image needs a polarizer. The sky and the mountains are both filled with haze.
The polarizer effect of the polarizer is hugely positive here on the sky, mountains and foliage.
Digital black & white photography using a color digital camera
Okay, this is going to sound controversial, especially coming from someone who makes and sells polarizers for a living, but I’m just going to say it:
If you’re shooting landscape with the intent of the final image being black & white, and you can see blue in the sky, I don’t think you should use a polarizer to darken the sky.
Crazy you say? Let’s think about the gold standard in B&W landscape photography, Ansel Adams. Ansel’s images are considered timeless, and since timeless is what we’re after here, let’s follow Ansel’s lead. If you examine Ansel’s images, you’ll notice a distinct lack of polarization. What you do see a lot of is the use of black & white filters to adjust contrast and tonality. The use of the wratten red filter on “Monolith, The Face of Half Dome” being the prime example.
To achieve the same effect with a digital camera, we’re going to use the color sliders to create the effect created by wratten red, orange, green and yellow filters. Often, as a starting point I’ll remove 50% of the blue, then “chase” the blue slider halfway with the adjacent sliders. Same with the yellow slider. I’ll add 50% then chase the yellow slider halfway with the adjacent sliders.
The polarizer works great over Mono lake in color!
The polarizer over Mono Lake in B&W is just awful.
Digital black & white photography using a monochrome digital camera
Look up “niche” in the dictionary and there’s a picture of a guy using a monochrome digital camera. But, they exist, so let’s talk about them. Monochrome digital cameras don’t output color data that can be manipulated with color sliders. So you have to use physical black & white filters, such as a wratten red to darken the sky. In this instance, you can use a polarizer, but as with any other black & white image, the results may appear unnatural. So, the pola works, but black & white filters are better.
Film Color Photography
Polarizers work great for film color photography. There is a “what you see is what you get” element to color film photography that lends itself to polarization. Essentially, if it looks great through the viewfinder, it’s probably going to look good on film.
Film black & white photography
By now, you know what I’m going to say … use black & white filters!
The general thesis here is: polarizers are great for modifying the sky in color photography, but not in black & white photography. Polarizers are also great for removing specular highlights from foliage, for removing surface reflections in water, and for removing reflections from windows. Polarizers are AMAZING. Of course, no rule is absolute. But it’s my personal belief that if you’re shooting landscapes for black and white, and you can see blue in the sky, keep the pola in the bag.
