Polarizing Filter, part 3

So, here I have taken a couple of shots of the eastern sky close to 6pm in August. The sky was blue and the sun was very bring. On the left is the shot with the Hoya CPL filter and on the right is the same shot taken without the CPL filter.















The CPL filter either brought the f-stop down a notch or two, or really polarized the light. The contrast in the sky is accentuated with the CPL filter. So, I like the CPL effect. However, notice the upper left and right corners. At 18mm the filter cuts into the frame! Yikes.

Now, is the CPL filter all that useful? I find that this is not the right application for the CPL filter. There is no glare to cut out. Below, I took the above right photo and increased the contrast and adjust the gamma correction in Irfanview. I prefer this higher contrast photo over the CPL photo which, untreated, is rather dull.