what filter is the best for blue skies?

Sounds like you want a circular polarisor to me, but im sure some of the filter guru's on here will correct me if im wrong.
 
Do you mean the sky is blown out white, as in over exposed?
 
Please show some examples. Maybe you're metering mode is on the wrong setting?

A Polariser helps with deeper blues in the sky and I personally find greens such as grass are much deeper too.
 
The polariser can help to produce stronger colours/more contrast but needs to be used correctly. Maximum effect is at 90 degrees to the sun, if the sun is directly infront/behind you the polariser won't do anything significant.

It will also struggle during the peak hours of the day when the sky appears more white than blue, due to the intensity of the sun

nice little article here with more info..

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Polarisers--a-guide-to-using-polarizing-filters-4757

Simon
 
Also a CPL can cause banding in the sky if used on a wide angle lens, when it's used properly though the blue can be very deep.
 
IMG_1919.JPG


quick shot (through a window) which wont help but this is probably one of the better skies that i get as there is atleast a bit of blue :lol:
 
Matt L said:
IMG_1919.JPG


quick shot (through a window) which wont help but this is probably one of the better skies that i get as there is atleast a bit of blue :lol:
Click to expand...

Try not shooting into the sun for a start.

You'd struggle with any filter, although a 3 stop ND Grad would help.

A C-Pol won't as the sun needs to be behind you.

Shoot with your back to the sun, not into it.
 
CPL = Circular Polarisor
 
714d9f77.jpg


Hoya CPL filter.

Don't misunderstand CPL filters though, it makes blue skies bluer. It won't make a white sky blue like above.
 
have a read about dynamic range on digital cameras
that should explain why you think your skies are all bleached out

then have a look exposure bracketing which should be a setting on your camera
then you can look in to HDR or gradient filters
 
Seems ot be a bit of misunderstanding about polarisation here.

Polariser works best with the light at 30 degrees to the lens. That doesn't have to be from behind, but it can be at any 30 degree (or more) angle...up, down, sideways AND from in front. The amount of polaristion can be controlled by the rotation of the grid ( a polariser is basically a diffraction grating) in lowest common denominator terms.

It will also work well in fog, as it cuts down on the amount of light lost through the water vapour that fog is.....so even bland skies which look pale grey/white with cloud can be rescued a great deal with a polariser, because it cuts through the haze....at a cost to EV of course. A heavily polarised scene might lose 4 stops of light. For the newcomers, that means your shutter speed for a given aperture will reduce from 1/1000th to 1/60th. If you only have a 1/125th to start with, 4 stops loss will mean you have to make do with 1/8th and so on...or you can gain a bit of shutter speed by giving up some aperture......but you have 4 stops less light hitting the film plane.

An ND grad can also rescue a blue sly by reducing the amount of light hitting the film plane from that sector of the picture covered by the reducing filter..an ND filter is a light reducer, nothing else, a grad ND is still a light reducer, just it only works on part of the scene - that bit which is covered.

hard grads have a sharp line between the reduction bit and clear. Soft grads have a more gradual meeting point. Generally for landscapes a hard grad is better, because you can line it up with the horizon between the dark land and the light sky....bringing the two closer together in terms of exposure vlaue. It won't just make blue slies go bluer, but sunrise/sets will also be more saturated, or storm clouds or all sorts of things where you have a large difference between a bright area and a darker one.

That is probably enough to take in at one go.
 
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