I'm trying to get more intense contrast and color in my outdoor photos. This was taken at Ocean Beach, CA (west side of San Diego) at sunset. f8, 1/100, iso200 (camera set on full automatic) with my Canon XSi and 75-300 lens. I recently pulled out an old polarizing filter, which I was using at the time. So how do I make the sky more interesting? Darken it in Paint shop pro? (don't have photoshop yet). I don't think I've included a direct link before, will see if it works.
http://starrlightphotography.com/pics/OB_rocks_Img_1971.jpg

thanks, Diana

Hmm, let me try another method.

ocean beach gate

another try

ok, finally got it. here is the one I was asking about initially...

Here are the other two. This one I call "Come on, just ONE more wave..."

Diana
a polarizing filter is much better at darkening blue skies and adding a bit of color saturation with more direct light. Late day shooting tends to filter the sun through the atmosphere and you don't get the same effects with a polarizer.

You might try a graduated neutral density filter to darken the upper part of the frame and leave the lower portion lighter. You can obtain the same effect in Photoshop but it tales a while figure out the masking and layering process.

Also, you can create it with a modified HDR effect by bracketing the exposures (3 or more) and then blending them either in Photoshop or in Photomatix. You can also do some tone-mapping on a single image in Photomatix which will let you darken the sky. There are a number of software solutions to this problem but if you want to solve it in the camera, a graduated neutral density filter is the best solution.

Jim

+1, a circular polarizer would take some reflection off the water. You need a graduated neutral density filter to decrease the light from the sky.

Thanks Jim and Preston. My son has been doing a lot of shooting at the beach lately and getting some really great surfer shots. I think the graduated filter would be a great idea. He has done a little playing around with HDR but don't think he's gotten results he's happy with yet. I'd like to try it also, anyone have a good resource for a beginner on that?

Diana

This guy says he stacks a 2x gnd filter on top of a 4x in order to get these kind of shots. I like his technique.

http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=878876

Diana,
you might want to take a look at this link: HDR Basics

Jim