Filters.

[deviant085]

Hi all, I have been browsing though deviantart today and reading through how some really stunning landscapes have been taken. and i have found that a lot of the say that they used filters. So i was just wondering, what are filters, do you use them? and what effect do they have on your photos

I am planing a trip to the whitsundays in January kayaking through the islands with my camera so i really want to get the most out of it.

[RichardTaylor]

For landscape photographers it is usually 3 filters.

(1) Polariser. May be used for:
Reducing reflections (sometimes making colours to appera more saturated) and making skies a bit darker or more contrasty depending on the light and atmosphere.

Example where it has been used to darken the sky.


(2) Neutral Density (ND) Filters)
The reduce the light reaching the front of the lens.

Two types
(1) ND - Reduces all of the light so you can have longer exposures, for those nice blurry water effects or, sometimes, shoot at a wider aperture.

(2) ND graduated (ND Grads)
Use to reduce the light over just part of the lens. Usually used to darken the skies to balance the exposure to the foreground when shooting sunrises/sunsets with the landscape in the foreground.

[deviant085]

Thanks Richard for the clear explanation, I think ill go out and buy a Polariser for my 10-20mm and maybe a ND graduated. For the other type i think i could achieve the same or close to effect my playing around with the ISO sped and aperture. trying not to go too over board with buying stuff... especially at this time of year

[RichardTaylor]

Just be careful when using a polariser on a very wide angle lens. It may cause vignetting (darkening the corners of the pic) and also the results may be variable depending on the angle of the sun.

This post may help.

Polarizing filter tips

[deviant085]

interesting article, it refers to wide angle polarizers but i had a look at a local camera shops website but couldn't find any. I have the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM which isn't the best in low light. are they called something different?

[sk66]

A "wide angle" si just a "slim filter"...so the mounting ring doesn't cause vignetting.
I never had an issue with a CPL on my 10-20 when I owned it.
After that I would suggest a variable ND as the most useful...