I try to be cognizant of the sun or bright sky when staging a shot. I admit to being in a hurry, rarely using a tripod and not adequately knowing my camera’s options/settings. Recently, I received advice (Wayne Mumford…Will Fish For Work) to experiment with a Gradient Filter. I have tweaked photos before with saturation settings, but never worked much with gradient filters. Below you see the original shot and then some tweaking. Not a great effort, but it shows how shots are manipulated beyond the original results.

desert shot bright
Original shot into the sun
Desert Shot.jpg
A first effort with a gradient filter
gradient filter desert shot JT.jpg
A second effort but there is that bright ‘halo’ appearance around objects.

I have much to learn with camera settings, time of day to shoot and developing a better eye. The Gradient Filter or Polarizing filter are enjoyable tools to experiment with. Yes, much room for improvement, but a learning experience for life, is it not?