Time of day for bluest sky

fjcvisual

We all know the value of the golden hour, especially for portraits. But I wanted to know if people have a time of day preference for a landscape photo if what you want to emphasize in your image is the blue sky. Lot's of things can make or break the sky, haze, smog etc etc. But all things equal, is there a time of day that is best to accentuate the sky?

Someone told me approx 10:00am with the sun to your back (although not always possible for a given comp) for this part of the world works nicely.

dereksurfs

This depends more on the location and weather pattern than the time of day IMO. Some areas just have bluer sky like higher elevation mountain regions. Here is a shoot I took at mid day in the High Sierra. The sky was very blue:





Then after a good rainstorm there are less polutants in the air and the sky tends to be bluer, even in more smoggy metro regions like LA. Time of day really affects other things more like less harsh lighting on foreground objects. So usually morning or afternoon are better for overall lighting. Of course there are expections to this general rule like the image above.

Tip: to help with blue skies a polarizer is useful. Though don't go overboard with it or the results can look overdone. Also avoid shooting 90 degrees from the sun if using a polarizer or your sky will look very uneven.

Andy

After the golden hour you also get the blue hour

Doug Solis

Love the cityscapes, just gorgeous Andy

Moving Pictures

I'd say it's generally about half a minute after you pop the polarizing filter on.

kdog

Moving Pictures wrote: »

I'd say it's generally about half a minute after you pop the polarizing filter on.

Yup, a circular polarizer is a good way to get a nice blue sky mid-day.

Moving Pictures

kdog wrote: »

Yup, a circular polarizer is a good way to get a nice blue sky mid-day.

I've seen two sets of wedding photographs recently, in contexts close and very close to my circle of affairs, where the photographer clearly had no clue about such wizardry. The result? Blown out milky sky with just a hint of blue.

Geebuz - if you're going to shoot weddings, outside, the least you can do is blow what - maybe $100 at MOST - on a polarizing filter and know how the heck to use it.