The right sky

Polarisers are ideal for when youre shooting architecture in scenic surroundings and under blue skies youll get the best results with blue skies that have some light cloud to create interest. We headed off to Wells in Somerset to photograph the citys famous cathedral on a sunny day.

Fit the polariser

For this shoot we used a circular polariser that screws on to the end of the lens. There are many brands available, and SRB Photographic has a full range, with prices starting at 16 for Canon kit lenses. Make sure the lter is the correct size to t your lens (see Phrase Book). You can adjust the intensity of the polarising effect by rotating the outer ring of the lter.

Compose and focus Camera setup

For this shoot youll need to set your camera up on a tripod; as well be shooting with a narrow aperture to keep everything sharp your shutter speed will be fairly slow to compensate for the reduced light entering the camera, and polarisers also reduce the amount of light reaching your sensor, which will further slow your shutter speed. For the best results your subject needs to be at 90 degrees to the sun. To help you compose your shot, and so that you can see the effect of the polariser as you adjust the outer ring, switch to Live View mode; this will also help with focusing. Switch your lens to manual focus, zoom the Live View image and scroll to an area of detail, then adjust the focus using the manual focusing ring until the detail appears sharp.

Shooting settings
Set your camera to Manual mode for full control over the aperture and shutter. Set a narrow aperture of f/11 and keep your ISO low, ideally at 100, for top-quality images. Half-press the shutter to meter the scene, then turn the dial to adjust the shutter speed until the exposure indicator is in the middle to obtain a balanced exposure you may need to adjust the shutter speed once the polariser is tted.

Shadows and highlights

With the polariser tted you may need to tweak the shutter speed to obtain a balanced exposure. If your subject is in shadow you may also want to bracket-expose two or three shots to ensure that you capture the full range of shadow and highlight detail in the scene, and then combine the images in postproduction if need be. Refer to your cameras manual for how to set up AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing).

ACR adjustments
Open polariser_start_1.dng and polariser_ start_2.dng in Camera Raw in Elements. Select polariser_start_1.dng by clicking its thumbnail in the lm strip; as were combining two images, we only need to get the sky looking right in this shot. Set Exposure to -0.15 and Blacks to +6 to darken the sky a little, and set Vibrance to +20 to boost the blues.

Reveal the polarised sky

The mask will be based on the selection, so the sky will be revealed and the rest of the image hidden. We want to reveal the ltered sky on the layer below, however, so press Ctrl+I to invert the mask. Next click the top layer, and press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to create a merged layer. Take the Clone Stamp tool, and clone out the two blurred birds in front of the cathedral, on the left and in the centre. Alt-click to sample suitable areas of detail, and clone these pixels over the birds.

Combine the images

Next target polariser_start_2.dng thumbnail; for this shot were focusing on the cathedral and the foreground. Set Contrast to +15, Shadows to +8 and Vibrance to 20. Click Select All, and click Open Images to open both shots in Elements Expert/Full Edit mode. Add the start_2 image to the start_1 image as a new layer (see Super Tip!, right), then take the Magic Wand tool, set Tolerance to 55 and tick Contiguous, and click on a mid-blue in the sky to select the entire sky. Go to Select > Feather, enter 3 pixels and click OK.

Contrast and colour

Clone out the people in front of the cathedral as well if you want. Next add a Levels adjustment layer, and set the Shadows slider to 20, the Midtones slider to 1.07 and the Highlights slider to 237 to boost the contrast. Finally, to give the blue sky a bit more of a boost, add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, select Blues from the menu and set Saturation to +20.

Polarising lter pros and cons

Although a polarising lter is great for darkening blue skies, you do need to be aware of how wide youre shooting. If youre shooting with a wide-angle lens the lter can affect some areas of the sky more than others, so its advisable not to shoot too wide, as the uneven polarising effect will produce unnatural-looking results. For the best results set your camera up on a tripod, and activate Live View mode so that you can preview the polarising effect; if youre shooting fairly wide you may need to rotate the lter to avoid an uneven effect. Q

WITHOUT POLARISER

WITH POLARISER

WIDE-ANGLE EFFECT