Re: can you use PS instead of a polariser?

In article , (Hunt) wrote:

[… blah blah blah…]

PS is better than a Polarizing filter as it doesn’t degrade the image

and […]

PS has no knowledge of polarized light. Let’s make it clear – what you are describing is an ‘effect like’ a polarizer acts _under certain conditions_.

I’ve no patience with ‘photographers’ who find it troublesome to carry filters or learn to apply them properly. While many such applications can be simulated in PS, polarization is the very lamest of all.

<john*at*stafford.net (one_of_many)> wrote in message

In article , (Hunt) wrote:

[… blah blah blah…]

PS is better than a Polarizing filter as it doesn’t degrade the image

and […]

PS has no knowledge of polarized light. Let’s make it clear – what you are describing is an ‘effect like’ a polarizer acts _under certain conditions_.

I’ve no patience with ‘photographers’ who find it troublesome to carry filters or learn to apply them properly. While many such applications can be simulated in PS, polarization is the very lamest of all.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a damn polarizer was used… then it is good enough.

I’ve no patience with "photographers" that insist on carrying troublesome filters that degrade the image, cause flare and generally are a PITA. Anything a filter can do can be done better in PS.

Tom

Tom wrote:

I’ve no patience with "photographers" that insist on carrying troublesome filters that degrade the image, cause flare and generally are a PITA. Anything a filter can do can be done better in PS.

Anything MOST filters can do, can be done better in PS, yes. With the execption of a polarizer. A polarizer can cut away reflections, making you see through the water surface of lake for example. In foto <http://www.johanfoto.nl/JWE/Pages/Other22.html> I used this with the polarizer turned half way, to get some reflection AND see the bottom. There is no way to do that afterwards in Photoshop. Have you ever seen what a polarizer can do when photographing in a forest shortly after (or even during) the rain? Again there is no way to mimic this in Photoshop, unless you are willing to spend a week cloning away the reflections in every single leave on by one… A polarizer is much more than just a filter to make the sky more blue!

—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message

Tom wrote:

I’ve no patience with "photographers" that insist on carrying

troublesome

filters that degrade the image, cause flare and generally are a PITA. Anything a filter can do can be done better in PS.

Anything MOST filters can do, can be done better in PS, yes. With the execption of a polarizer. A polarizer can cut away reflections, making you see through the water surface of lake for example. In foto <http://www.johanfoto.nl/JWE/Pages/Other22.html> I used this with the polarizer turned half way, to get some reflection AND see the bottom. There is no way to do that afterwards in Photoshop. Have you ever seen what a polarizer can do when photographing in a forest shortly after (or even during) the rain? Again there is no way to mimic this in Photoshop, unless you are willing to spend a week cloning away the reflections in every single leave on by one… A polarizer is much more than just a filter to make the sky more blue!

It was humor. I was pulling John’s chain… 😉

Tom

AS others say, you can’t fully replicate apolarizer in PS

But if the aim is to deepen the skies more like a grey grad then this works.

quckmask>gradient tool> foreground/background option> draw line over sky

to be darkened from bottom to top> leave quickmask.image-adjustments-levels or curves and adjust to taste.

Bobby Dogg

"Hunt" wrote in message

In article ,
says…

I’m into landscape photography, and a lot of the time I like to carry just an autofocus compact. Trouble is, these don’t take filters, and I don’t want the hassle of holding a polariser in front of the lens, hoping the orientation’s right and that it’s covering the exposure sensor, etc. Ideally, I’d like to shoot without a polariser and make up for it afterwards with Photoshop.

I know you can use Levels on just the blue channel, for instance, but are there any other more sophisticated techniques you can use to darken blue skies in a really natural-loking way, so that you can effectively ‘leave the polarising to Photoshop’?

Thanks in advance

Dave

Select the sky area (however you choose) and do an Adjustment Layer with

that

Selection active. Go first to Levels and play around. Load the Selection

from

Adjustment Layer>Levels, and play with Hue & Saturation. If you have any

more

Adjustment Layers to use, you might want to load an Inverse of the above Selection so as to no un-do what you have done.

PS is better than a Polarizing filter as it doesn’t degrade the image and

can

be applied to just certain areas, plus you don’t loose 2.5/f in the

process

and get a slightly greenish cast that has to be manipulated later.
Hunt