Dealing w/ haze, smog,etc

[ezwriter]

I live near Los Angeles. You may have heard we have a little smog/haze here. I shoot scenics,mts,etc. And some days, like today, you could see the haze from like only 1/2mile away. Really makes a dreary,washed out shot.
Have UV/ haze filters.
Any tips for dealing w/ this besides moving to CO or HI? Or do u just shoot
closeups on these days? It only rains like 3 days/year here but then mts are awesome! thx

 

[ezwriter]

2-Got those HD sunglasses. Really help a lot when driving, esp when going west into the sun.
What filter would be equal to that? thx

 

[Rick A]

For black and white film I use colored filters, yellow, orange, and red, experiment to finf the one that works best for you. Color film requires UV/haze, polarized, or a combination, again experiment.

 

[MDR]

Stacking UV + Polaroid Filters might help if you shoot color, an orange or red filter should help if you shoot B&W. Using a very Saturated Film (Velvia) + Pol and UV Filter is another option to get more vivid photos. Smoke and Smog can also enhance a picture, shroud the mountains in a mysterious fog, etc...
Those HD-Glasses seem to work like an Orange Filter, they cut of the Blue part of the Light Spectrum and thus cuts trough fog or haze. BTW Hoya has an orange polarizing Filter in it's program the Filter effect looks a lot like the effect you get with HD-Glasses
Link to the Hoya Filter: Dead Link Removed
Link to a HD Glasses review with pictures for comparison: http://blog.laptopmag.com/hd-vision-sunglasses-reviewed-mind-blowing-results
Good luck
Dominik

 

[mgb74]

+1 on polarizing filter and higher contrast film. I've only used linear polarizer - I assume a circular polarizer would work, but not sure.

 

[jeffreyg]

He/she could consider a different approach and accentuate the haze/smog with a blue filter (for B&W). Also reducing haze with stronger uv filters and for color a warming filter.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[Sirius Glass]

Nothing cuts through fog, haze or smog. Period.

Infrared film could make a dent but the good stuff, HIE is no long made.

 

[BrianShaw]

Or do u just shoot closeups on these days?

Yes.

 

[DREW WILEY]

A sharp-cutting high-quality MC red filter like a 29 B&W, combined with a slightly red-extended sensitivity film like TMX or even better, the now disc Tech Pan will do some remarkable things. Red has of course the long wave lengths which travel better through atmosphere. I had some serious forest fire
issues a couple years ago backpacking in Sequoia. Got to a remote lake far enough above the bad smoke
to breathe well, but the magnificent crags in the middle distance were hard to pick out detail on with the
naked eye. So I set up the 4x5 with a red filter and took some shots of the crags anyway. When I got
home I took one of the long-lens shots and printed it, and discovered in the details a perfect silhoutte of a golden eagle perched atop the highest pinnacle way,way off. When I took that shot I had difficulty seeing anthing more than the general shape of the entire mtn ridgeline due to haze. I could
recite many stories like this.