Shooting into the sun - help

Any tips on shooting into the sun

landscape type shots at 10mm ideally (although mm doesnt really matter)

do you guys use polarisers or filters?

what do i need to get a cool effect without being blinded by the sun

i want deep blue skies

can i damage the camera by shootin direct(ish) into the sun???

cheers

Here is a post you can read...

...and here is another...i hope this helps.

Dmitri -
In the first thread you linked to, you said...

"A second layer was added underneath with 3 stops underexpossure and blended so i could bring out the highly overexpossed sun and its flare.
Metering was taken from the sky."

Was it the sky that you underexposed by 3 stops? (I presume that this was the reason for metering from the sky.)

Also, is layering two shots a process you still do when shooting into the sun? Or do you simply stack enough ND grads to make the scene work now?

Your plan to use a wide angle is good as the problems are less and it is much safer (telephoto lens into the sun is a real danger to your retina and the camera's sensor).

From my limited experience:
1. Obscure the sun with a branch or catch the moment it peeks over the horizon. The closer it is to a point source of light the better.
2. Use a small aperture - point sources of light turn into attractive stars, not blobs.
3. Use ND grads - 3 stops minimum, maybe up to 6 stops. I once saw my photog friend Andy use 9 stops!! That way you have a chance of retaining detail in the darker areas.
4. Shoot in RAW so that you can do a conversion which is underexposed for the sky and another for the darker areas.
5. If you don't understand 4 just underexpose the whole shot by 1/3 to 1 stop.

Above all experiment! If you get a good result, post it here (with details) so we can all learn.