Smoque filter for Landscape?

[Jon Rosenbloom]

I'll be shooting some exteriors in Los Angeles next January. Super-16 "capture," post to digi-beta for festival screening. The Director would like to capture that LA smog-bound look, but we're not certain we won't end up w/ a crystal clear January day. My idea is to use something like a Tiffen Smoque 1 and some sort of soft-edge coral. Any thoughts? Waste of time? Good Plan? Thanks for the feedback.

[David Mullen ASC]

You can try it, certainly. It would make it seem particularly hazy/foggy that day.

 

It's not a cure-all because it reacts to whatever is in the shot, so the effect disappears and reappears as bright areas move through the frame. For this reason, I tend to use the lightest grade, the #1.

[Will Montgomery]

Smog in LA is strange... sometimes looking up from underneath it doesn't look that bad, but as you get higher it gets thicker and you start to see it. I notice this when I'm flying in and out quite a bit, there's a certain altitude that looks like you're headed for cancer then when you get above it or below it you don't notice it as much.

[Leo Anthony Vale]

Smog in LA is strange... sometimes looking up from underneath it doesn't look that bad,

 

Once on a seemingly sunny day, I looked up into the bluish grey sky and saw a jetliner fade away into the smog.