Washed out and darn right boring?

Idk if its just me or what, but every time I shoot at a vantage point over looking LA during the day, its all grey and boring looking. the only way I can think to save it is bump the contrast up a lot! top image Is from a little after sunset. the sky had a lot more color but my a7 didn't catch the color I guess settings were iso100, 1.6secs, and f/14. bottom image is during the day at iso100 1/4000 sec and f/1.8. any tips on saving these and creating a less boring photo with post processing? feel free to do your own edit as well.

The old saying about not making chicken salad out of chicken sh** comes to mind. Not that your shots are crap, but the atmopheric haze makes it almost impossible to get the shot you envision. You can probably boost the vibrance and color palette to get something out of the first shot.

Ya. :/ haha sucks cuz it such a beautiful view. Guess a big city like LA comes with its downsides :/

Watch the weather forecast and look for a cold front, or what passes for a cold front out there They tend to provide the clearest air.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17362350
Watch the weather forecast and look for a cold front, or what passes for a cold front out there They tend to provide the clearest air.

Assuming the exif is correct cold fronts don't get much colder than when these were taken, it actually snowed where I live(at only 1200' and not very far from the coast) just the day prior to these shots.

Right after a rain it's often about as clear as it can get and we should be getting a lot of it this year. Night time is often pretty clear as well.

Having lived in Southern California for a good portion of my life, I can sat that LA is tough to do any photography for city scapes. The air is just too soupy. If it isn't the fog, its the smog. Neither one of which makes for great shots. As mentioned above, maybe look for days right after a rain comes through. Or a day with a little more than slight winds to blow the junk out of the sky, even if for only a few minutes.
I just don't see either of these shots being made into anything more than just snap shots of a dreary looking skyline.

Thanks guys. I did take a couple more that I managed to make something out of.

Sometimes when there has been a Santa Ana wind condition you can get some clear shots. Might look for that.

what you need a time machine to go back to LA before the smog hung so thickly lol

ߘ°ߘ°ߘ don't we all. I go all over the place with a time machine haha

https://www.flickr.com​/photos/djmurdokphotos​/

This guy is based out of LA. He has a unique editing style that I think came about as his way of working around the smog. You might want to look through his landscape photos and try to get an idea of what he is doing in his edits to work with/around the haze. Like the below picture for instance.

https://www.flickr.com …murdokphotos/15​052814353/

You know what kawi_200? I'm following him on Instagram. Have been for a couple years now. Always loved his work. Really helpful dude too. Always answered questions I've had.

Interesting how that happens. Small world. I met him in a car forum. Had to look him up because he's been gone for a few years now and I couldn't remember his name.

It's LA, what would you expect? I like that your photographs present an accurate rendition of reality. They're actually good images of a dismal city.

Alveric has a good point. LA is know for having smog and a hazy shot with smog can be just as good as a sharp one from the rare clear day. I do think it would be better to either have less or more than on the day of shots but conditions are always optimum for what you want or even for something else that might just as good and got what you got on that day.