Why do my skies and clouds look the way they do?

So other than shooting people and flowers all the time, I also have a love for landscapes.  My favorite especially are skies and really amazing clouds.  If you’ve ever seen my landscapes, they’re just always really bright and colorful, the trees are really green, and the clouds just pop!  I assume that’s why most people find them to look so fake because they think I just photoshop them…but nope!  That is not the case.

So why do they all look like this?

About 2 years ago, I discovered polarizers.  I think it was used during the film days too.  I used polarizers because I used to not know how to edit photos, so I would rely on filters and other junk to help maximize the style I liked.  It is basically a lens filter, and it works best when the sun is high.  All you do is rotate the filter, and it turns your skies darker/bluer, trees are greener, clouds are whiter, and everything is just BETTER.  But you have to be like 90 degrees from the sun; it’s pretty much useless on overcast days.  How does it do this?  Well, when it’s really sunny outside, there are reflections everywhere, and that’s why it always feels like when we shoot in the bright sun, none of the pictures look good (most of the time).  When you twist the filter, it takes out all the reflections (on leaves, water, sand, floors etc) thus, bringing out its true colors.  Pretty much, it’s all magic (with some scientific elements in there).  I mean, I guess you could probably photoshop stuff to look like that….but it’s not the same.

Here are some examples of a before and after.  I had to dig up some older examples (from the lake) that portrayed it better because it’s not that sunny right now.  Polarizers seem to work better in Texas sun  ;)

I hope those were some ok examples.  You can really see a difference if there’s good clouds.  Hoya’s are probably the best filters out there, the multi-coated ones work the best.  You can get them here, depending on your filter size.  There are also cheaper versions out there that work pretty well too.  I’ve used them all, and they are pretty decent.  So if you’re really into landscapes, definitely get yourself one of these–it is life changing!!  (I’ve already converted a friend)  Unless you just want to photoshop everything.  :)