When I first saw the lens hood, which was included in my Nikon camera kit, to be frank, I had absolutely no idea what it was let alone what it was supposed to do. After reading an article on
Digital Photography School, it soon became apparent how important a lens hood is for direct sunlight shots, which many of my photos are. So at that point not only did I became familiar with its purpose, but more importantly, I realized how using it properly will dramatically enhance a photograph’s picture.
As time progressed, I started using the lens hood more often. I wasn’t exactly sure if it was improving my photos, but I kept it attached to my 55-200mm Nikon lens.
Well, today, I was in for a rude awaking as to the significance of using the lens hood.
As part of my job, I was chasing down another story for my online lifestyle magazine,
Travelin’ Local. After reading a
recent story about a new hiking trail opening at the Hollywood Reservoir, I grabbed my camera and off I went; never having been there, I wasn’t sure what I’d find.
Because of the wide shot, I began my shoot using an 18-55mm lens. Here’s one of the first shots I took:
Data on this shot:
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/20.0
Focal Length: 46.2 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
This is the shot I took a few minutes later with my 55-200mm lens with the lens hood attached:
Data on this shot:
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/18.0
Focal Length: 75.5 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
I made no post processing changes in these photos. It’s now obvious to me that using the lens hood can make a good picture better, and a bad picture worse.
Here are two more examples taken on the same day within minutes of each other:
Without the lens hood
With the lens hood
In the never ending battle of gadgets, although I’m not sure a lens hood falls into the category of “gadgets”, some feedback would be appreciated----as a beginning photographer, is it just the lens hood that created the difference in these different images or am I just whistling Dixie?
As the more experienced and seasoned photographers, I hope you can assist me in understand what’s going on. Is it the lens hood or the very small difference in exposure time? Or did the addition of the lens hood cause the difference in exposure time?