Haze - My Nemesis

[Brownbear]

I would like to ask folks to post their "Beautiful Hazy Landscape Images" to help me and others learn how to take advantage of haze.

Read "Hazy Images" - not images where the haze has been eliminated with post processing, or images with fog or mist because I think fog and mist are special and beautiful, but plain old ugly haze.


It would be especially helpful if when posting such images you could share just why the haze enhances your image, and or how you used the natural lighting to make the best of the haze. (backlit, side or front lighting) And especially special if your image includes mountains.

Thank you!

[Shadowman]

The scene started out interesting, there were dashes of light reflecting off the buildings, then the clouds started to move and the light was gone. I took about twenty shots, but didn't capture the scene as I wanted to.
I haven't applied any sharpening as I was intending to do some noise reduction which would mean altering the haze.

f/16, 1350sec, ISO 1000.

[Mike Buckley]

John,

That's my favorite of any images I remember coming from your camera. There is so much about this image to like.

[Mike Buckley]

Though I might not have displayed this image captured during my recent trip to Lofoten, Norway, this is one of my favorites because of the atmosphere caused by the haze. The haze is primarily back lit.

The haze makes the horizon almost disappear (and one could easily argue that I should have post-processed the image to make it disappear); an invisible or nearly invisible horizon makes one wonder what's out there.

The photo includes a relatively great distance of scenery from front to rear and the haze helps accentuate that distance. As the haze becomes gradually thicker and thicker, the degree of haze helps convey distance and, thus, the three-dimensional aspect of the scene.

The layers of mountains (as opposed to the mountains themselves) are accentuated by the lesser or greater impact of the haze. That adds to the three-dimensional characteristic of the photo and helps define the shape of the various layers of mountains.

Last, if there were any clouds in the sky, they were virtually hidden by the haze. The plain sky helps make the interesting shapes of the mountains and the various layers of the mountains stand out.

Click to view the image in a larger size to more fully appreciate the impact of the haze.




I just now confirmed that I used my typical haze-reduction adjustment in the top half of the image to minimize the effect of the haze. However, when there is as much haze as in this scene and when it is mostly or entirely backlit, it's impossible to eliminate it in the photo.

We have two alternatives in that situation: make the most of the haze or use the Delete key. I almost always use the Delete key but every once in awhile an attractive photo can be made. The moral of that story is that haze is almost always an insurmountable challenge; though lemonade can always be made out of lemons, appealing images can rarely be made of images without minimizing or eliminating the effect of haze during post-processing.

[Manfred M]

One of my favourite shots from a trip to the Gaspé region of Quebec, Canada was a sunset shot with the fog and mist rolling in off the Gulf of St Lawrence.



While this is not quite haze and not quite fog; the end results are not dissimilar.

[Mike Buckley]

Great image, Manfred!

While this is not quite haze and not quite fog; the end results are not dissimilar.

I disagree. The primary characteristic of haze is that its density is the same at any particular point in the distance. That's different from fog or mist, which can be very interesting because it can be quite dense at low altitudes as in the case of your photo and far less dense at higher altitudes at the same distance, or vice versa.

[NorthernFocus]

Hey, Christina. Since you specified haze and disqualified fog/mist, that narrows the field a lot for me. This one that I posted recently is the only one I can think of that I consciously left the haze in to improve the image. It wasn't pre-planned. Just there and saw the opportunity. And it's mountains

In this image the haze is slightly backlit but mostly from the side. So a CPL would have cut it down significantly.

[Mike Buckley]

I would be willing to bet that every nice image including haze will enhance the three-dimensional characteristic of the subject. The haze will either be part of a multi-layered subject or a subject such as the first scene in this thread that conveys great distance or it will be the background of the subject.

If the image conveys little distance and displays lots of haze, I doubt that it will be attractive (unlike the potential for rain, fog or mist).

[NorthernFocus]

I would be willing to bet that every nice image including haze will enhance the three-dimensional characteristic of the subject....

Unless one is filming smog for a climate change related add

[Shadowman]

John,

That's my favorite of any images I remember coming from your camera. There is so much about this image to like.

Thanks Mike, now I'm afraid to overwork it.

[Shadowman]

Though I might not have displayed this image captured during my recent trip to Lofoten, Norway, this is one of my favorites because of the atmosphere caused by the haze. The haze is primarily back lit.

The haze makes the horizon almost disappear (and one could easily argue that I should have post-processed the image to make it disappear); an invisible or nearly invisible horizon makes one wonder what's out there.

The photo includes a relatively great distance of scenery from front to rear and the haze helps accentuate that distance. As the haze becomes gradually thicker and thicker, the degree of haze helps convey distance and, thus, the three-dimensional aspect of the scene.

The layers of mountains (as opposed to the mountains themselves) are accentuated by the lesser or greater impact of the haze. That adds to the three-dimensional characteristic of the photo and helps define the shape of the various layers of mountains.

Last, if there were any clouds in the sky, they were virtually hidden by the haze. The plain sky helps make the interesting shapes of the mountains and the various layers of the mountains stand out.

Click to view the image in a larger size to more fully appreciate the impact of the haze.




I just now confirmed that I used my typical haze-reduction adjustment in the top half of the image to minimize the effect of the haze. However, when there is as much haze as in this scene and when it is mostly or entirely backlit, it's impossible to eliminate it in the photo.

We have two alternatives in that situation: make the most of the haze or use the Delete key. I almost always use the Delete key but every once in awhile an attractive photo can be made. The moral of that story is that haze is almost always an insurmountable challenge; though lemonade can always be made out of lemons, appealing images can rarely be made of images without minimizing or eliminating the effect of haze during post-processing.

Nicely captured and processed. The 3-D effect is perfect.

[IzzieK]

This is mine...not so much to see but I like the effect and I didn't do much to the image at all because when I started processing, the haze sort of disappears...so it was back to the drawing board for this one...

[Shadowman]

One of my favourite shots from a trip to the Gaspé region of Quebec, Canada was a sunset shot with the fog and mist rolling in off the Gulf of St Lawrence.



While this is not quite haze and not quite fog; the end results are not dissimilar.

Nicley done, while I'll agree with Mike's assessment of the difference between haze and fog, a good solid pea soup thick amount of fog can encompass a large area especially if you are standing in the middle of it.

[Shadowman]

This is mine...not so much to see but I like the effect and I didn't do much to the image at all because when I started processing, the haze sort of disappears...so it was back to the drawing board for this one...

Izzie,

Nicely done, makes you want to see what is up ahead.

[pnodrog]

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[Brownbear]

Thank you to everyone for sharing your lovely hazy images! Truly helpful for me to see.

And Mike, thank you for your detailed explanation. I may have an image from my trip that suits the bill (layers, distance) but I think I zoomed in too much.

Manfred, that is a beautiful image but represents beautiful fog and mist to me.

John, indeed that is a lovely image. Izzie, nice capture, thank you for sharing.

The images of Dan, Mike, John and Paul with the mountains.... Terrific to see and learn from. Thank you!

[HaseebM]

Here's mine Christina.

[Shadowman]

Here's mine Christina.

That's glaze, not haze.

[rpcrowe]

Christina,

You might be interested in this YouTube video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL9N...Z2V61fOIjiUyTA

Here's a way to try Perfect Effects free...
http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/effects8free/