terrywinn

All,

Good afternoon. I took this picture yesterday with my Nikon D7100. With my digital cameras I have had an issue with washed out pictures of long-distance shots. I was wondering if anyone could provide some thoughts on how to correct this issue. I have a Nikkor 18-55 kit lense with a UV filter on it.

Pictures up close look good, but I have always had a challenge with long distance pictures. I do not know if this is a "feature" of cameras or is something I am doing.

I appreciate any comments or thoughts you may have.

Thanks!

Terry

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dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I think I can see what you tried to do with this photo as I have tried similar shots myself that did not work out well for me. I like the leading line into the distance and water but the distance is so far and with nothing recognizable in the distance it is just a snapshot for you to remember. The day is obviously hazy and with the exception of maybe infra red film I don't think much will cut through the haze to give you a sharp photo that will just, "pop".

I would have been different had there been a huge cathedral in the distance or ship upon the water but from what I can make out it is just non distinct land/water.

I just this moment saw something I had missed, a person kneeling down in the roadway perhaps to take a photo. Had you been much closer to that person and taken a person of him/her then the photo would have more meaning since I suspect you know that person. The photo of them in that locale would have meaning for you.

Sorry I could not be more positive in my critique but as I said above I have tried the same type of shot and got the same results.

Remember distance is not necessarily a friend in photography unless the subject is distinct and huge.

Dennis

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

[quote=terrywinn]All,

Good afternoon. I took this picture yesterday with my Nikon D7100. With my digital cameras I have had an issue with washed out pictures of long-distance shots. I was wondering if anyone could provide some thoughts on how to correct this issue. I have a Nikkor 18-55 kit lense with a UV filter on it.

Pictures up close look good, but I have always had a challenge with long distance pictures. I do not know if this is a "feature" of cameras or is something I am doing.

Terry,

Tough subject to expose correctly. The sky and clouds are one exposure level and the foreground is a couple stops more. Then there is the fog that that is reflecting the blue sky obscuring the far mountains and giving everything a cloudy blue cast. It would be a good time to use a polarizing filter to darken the sky and even out the exposure somewhat. The blue cast can be eliminated in PP and the middle ground could be burned in evening out the contrast ratio.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

A polarizing filter usually cut the haze dramatically. Color balance is off.

MtnMan Loc: ID

The only way I have found to deal with haze like this is to come back at another time when it isn't there. Of course if you are somewhere once in a lifetime that might not be an option.

I haven't found that UV/haze filters help much. Sometimes a CP (polarizer) helps a little.

You can also do a little in post processing...you might post in the post processing forum and ask folks to take a shot at it and tell you what they did. Upping contrast and clarity might help a little.

idahoshooter Loc: Coeur d'Alene

Several thoughts come to mind. I am only going to refer to the issue, if you search the UHH pages you can find more discussions on each of these:

1) UV filters are not really necessary on digital camera's. Better to use no filter or to protect your actual lens use a quality clear filter, or a Circular polarizer if you shot lots of landscapes.

2) I now Post-Process (PP) most of my photo's like this now. Most PP software has haze removal (search UHH for haze removal). In some circumstances it can really helps bring the colors back out.

2b) I PP this image, the results were not as good as I usually get, I think because the haze was too much of the signal, especially since it looks like you were shooting into the sun.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Regarding your comment re always having a problem with long distance pictures (aside from the issue of haze and poor air): for composition, think in terms of foreground, middle ground, distance. Look for leading lines and other compositional elements. Here is one article with tips. There are many more through Google searches, magazines etc that will help you bring interest to your "long distance" pictures :)

http://digital-photography-school.com/11-surefire-tips-for-improving-your-landscape-photography/

waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li

Already many good comments, like CP filter and shooting when it is not hazy and stuff but you can do a lot to make it better in post processing. I played with it for a few minutes in Paintshop and darkend the sky and made the clouds more dramatic and the foreground more colorful. I think the haze in the background and the lake is salvageable to a point but I haven't gotten that far with it yet. It is your photo so I don't want to post what I did, anyway I'm just learning this digital post processing stuff myself. Anyway, It can be made better, not perfect but better.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

Lets start with getting the sensor cleaned on your camera. You have some pronounced spotting on the sensor. Next you need to shoot off a tripod if you are shooting distance. The shot is out of focus. At least brace your camera on something or use a monopod. Shoot at about f11. That on most lenses will be the sharpest setting for distance. Your camera is good, but your lens is in need of upgrading. Along with what others have suggested should help anyone get better shots. The biggest help however would be retake the shot when the air is better. Good Luck. Welcome to UHH.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Terry,

From the shadows on the ground, the sun was in front of the camera and slightly left of center. There is not much you can do for this glaring effect. Using a Circular Polar filter when the sun is at right angles to the camera would greatly improve the capture, you can adjust the filter to reduce glare.
One other tip. Set the camera to meter the exposure for the center spot in the viewfinder, measure the exposure on the shoreline. Then recompose the scene and capture the image. This will lower the over exposure of the valley, and the rail on the roadside.

Michael G

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

[quote=terrywinn]Terry, Your camera data shows OK. The histogram shows a bit too much light on the left side, so I moved the curser in just a small amount. I cropped the picture to give a wider format. David

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lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

I pulled this photo down and brought it into Lightroom to take a better look and see what it would look like with PP.

I have a few suggestions.
1) The photo is over exposed so raise your shutterspeed this will also help with the focus. The background and a large part of the exposure is very light/bright, this almost always tricks your camera (and many photographers into an over exposure. Try using spot meter on your camera focus on the subject ie maybe the man crouching or the road itself and then your ael to lock the exposure. This will help balance out the photo's exposure.

2) focus It looks like the close elements are in way better focus than the distance. Try to pick a focal point about 1/3 of the way into the frame, which will ensure more clarity at infinity. Consider dropping f stop to f11 from f14 and raising the shutterspeed to compensate.

3) A lot of haze contributed to the out of exposure and lack of fine detail look.

4) To gain some interest zoom in (i cropped from the top left corner maintaining aspect ratio.. To focus in on the road cliff and the crouching man better.

I got this a lot better actually a presentable photo but not a prize winner. I've taken the liberty of posting it and hope that you've found the suggestions posted here by the members helpful...

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j.collinst

Ditch the UV filter and your photos will be better. If you want lens protection, but a good circular polarizer. My 2 bits

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Hi, terrywinn, and welcome to the forum. As already stated, in this shot the haze is the main reason for the washed out look. A UV filter does help a little with haze, but not as much as a CPL filter.

But since you've already taken the shot, PP is your only option now. One thing that you can do to reduce haze is darken it, and that can be done either globally or by selecting the haze. In this case the haze is so severe, the required adjustments will be so extreme that global adjustments will be problematic where the rest of the shot is concerned.

A third possibility is to darken blue in the HSL section (or whatever equivalent your editor has). You've probably noticed that the haze is predominantly blue. Darkening blue is an effective way to target the haze. The sky is also blue, but you'll find that darkening it (by whatever means) can improve it and can enhance the appearance of clouds.

While you're in the HSL section, another thing that you can do is desaturate blue. You'll find that doing so does a lot to make the haze more transparent. Ideally you would select the haze to desaturate the blue, but if you couldn't, and had to do it globally, it's possible to replace blue that has been lost from the sky or sea. I've done that in the past when the haze was extreme and I couldn't use HSL on a selection.

You don't want to completely desaturate blue because that can look unnatural. I always leave some, even if it means the haze is strengthened by doing that. It's the better option.

Another treatment that works well on haze is increasing the Contrast, and if you have it, Clarity. Again this is best done by selecting the haze.

Whatever treatments you use, you'll find that when the landscape behind the haze starts to emerge, its colour will be very weak and the details will be very indistinct and soft. I haven't tried editing this shot, but I can tell that what I've just described will be a major problem.

The weak colours may be correctable using Saturation, but if the colours are totally gone, increasing Saturation won't help. If things are that bad, you just have to find some way of adding colour.

In Lightroom, the Adjustments brush can be used to add colour (one colour per adjustment) to selected areas, and if there is a general lack of colour, you might have to make several selections to add several colours. Alternatvely, if the lost colouring is predominantly green, you could use the Tint slider.


The haze makes it difficult to determine whether the distant softness is due to bad focus or the haze itself. If the distant focus is off, focussing further away from you would have helped. You could focus at the hyperfocal distance for the aperture that you're using.

Or as suggested, focus about 1/3 of the way into the frame, but in this case the background is so distant that doing so might compromise the foreground sharpness.

Some might say that going higher than f/14 will increase softness due to diffraction. In this case I'd say that the distant stuff is one of the main parts of the composition, so increasing its sharpness by upping the f-stop is worth the (very slight) increase in softness in the near-field.

Oops - another long-winded answer. I hope there's something in there that helps :? .

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

What you see (and capture) is a lot of haze especially at seascapes. It is a normal occurrence. One way to cut through haze, is to use a polarizer filter!