HDRs and Polarizers

It is well known that doing a panorama with a polarizer on the lens can be problematic. However, I am wondering if there is any problem in doing an HDR with a polarizer on the lens. If the polarizer, for example, changes the sky color, the effect will occur in all of the exposures. This doesn't strike me as a problem, but I may well be missing something.

Thanks for any input.

Jay Levin

What little HDR work I have done has been mostly done with a polarizer. I don't see a problem with this. Maybe I am missing something. My suggestion would be to take the same group of pictures with and without a polarizer and see if you can tell the difference. If there is a difference, which looks better. This is a time when you can be thankful that you don't have to pay for the film and developing and click away!

My Starved Rock Photo was taken with a polarizer and I did it in 3 exp. HDR, though I don't have a lot of the gray sky showing. I did not have a probelm. I have not done it with a full sky shot yet.

Like anything else, the answer is, it depends. If you are doing a typical HDR shot through most wide angle lenses, there should be no problem using a polarizer. The sky will be blended just like the rest of the photo. However, if you combine HDR with a a very wide panorama (or an ultra wide angle lens), then you may see the varying strength of the polarizer come into play, making it possible for a rather uneven blue in the sky. In many cases, an uneven blue from a polarizer is often a passable mistake. Its best to avoid it in the first place, but usually most people will consider it a minor nitpick or not even notice it. With postprocessing tools like Nik software, it is much easier to correct the problem too. Still, its better to get it right at the time of capture.

I personally love the look of a polarized image. Over time I have learned that as with nearly everything else, less is more. Nothing beats carefully composing your image in the field and thinking through each step of the process. Happy shooting!

There's no independent reason why a polarizer would impact HDR rendering. Greg noted some cases where a polarizer would be a problem, but it would be a potential issue in those instances with or without taking an HDR approach.