what do you make of this...

[My2Girls66]

Just back from Italy, took this photo on the Amalfi Coast. The 1st one is straight from the camera, the 2nd one is after using PSE9 to boost the contrast. Is that just haze in photo #1 or is it something I did wrong? Also, did I do the right correction or is there a better way? I had a circular polarizer on the lens but I did notice the same thing on photos I took with my little p310 p&s. I wonder if it might depend on the angle to the sun because not all photos have the 'haze' look but many of them do.
Thanks

 

[jcb]

Just back from Italy, took this photo on the Amalfi Coast. The 1st one is straight from the camera, the 2nd one is after using PSE9 to boost the contrast. Is that just haze in photo #1 or is it something I did wrong? Also, did I do the right correction or is there a better way? I had a circular polarizer on the lens but I did notice the same thing on photos I took with my little p310 p&s. I wonder if it might depend on the angle to the sun because not all photos have the 'haze' look but many of them do.
Thanks

If you notice the same thing with the photos from your P&S then I'm wondering whether your polarizing filter was turned in the right direction. The degree to which a polarizer will affect your image depends on the angle of the sun to the filter. If you turn 90 degrees, for example, you need to adjust the filter. There are other suggestions for using a polarizing filter at http://www.dslrtips.com/workshops/How_to_use_polarizing_filters/reduce_haze_deep_blue_sky.shtml

There are also just times when a polarizing filter won't help too much because of angle of the sun to the scenery.

I think this photo is slightly, very slightly, over exposed. Increasing the contrast clearly helped. You might also play with the saturation settings as that will bring out more color in the buildings.

Hope you had a good trip.

 

[My2Girls66]

Thank you. I will mess with the saturation a bit and check out the tips. We did have a great trip