Filter

[Sean Stiegemeier]

I was wondering what filter is best for a day shot from the top of a hill. I want to cut down the haze that appears from the altitude and the distance, so which filter(s) whould help out?

[David Mullen ASC]

A UV filter would cut haze and a Pola would cut glare. And an ND grad filter would darken a sky that was too hot at the top of the frame.

[DavidSloan]

Can an ND grad make a sky look overcast?

[David Mullen ASC]

An ND filter can make an overcast sky look MORE overcast, darker and moodier. But it can't make a blue sky look gray and cloudy.

[DavidSloan]

Gotcha...can any grad do that?

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Not really; it's hard for a filter to suck colour out of a sky. You could try to find a coloured grad which was the colour negative of sky blue, but really all that should do is make it darker.

 

This is something you could reasonably try and do in post, all the way from just desaturating the image a little to keying in a cloudy sky - this might be quite doable if the blue of the sky was deep enough. However, the main problem will be matching lighting if it's sunny - you'll need huge diffusion frames to create soft light.

 

Or come to England, we can more or less guarantee you overcast.

 

Phil

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

I?ve seen these really cool colour intensifying filters. For example they?ll strengthen the blue without re-colouring any other colours. Although they are bloody expensive, personally I'd just use Photoshop.

[Greg Gross]

I think Mr. Mullen has answered the question. I've used all three filters at

times and they get the job done. Other than some possible experimentation

that somone has done with other materials,these filters are it. I am always

experimenting though,trying to find new ways.

[Laurent Andrieux]

if you want the sky to look brighter , you can use a bluish grad, if you want it to look darker, yellow works great (plus pola + ND).