Photo Tips
Shoot Like a Pro - Filters For Your Digital Camera
The white balance feature employed by digital cameras negates most
color added by external filters attached to your lens. However, there
are several types of filters that still work and should be included
in your camera bag.
1) UV filter
2) Polarizing Filter
3) Graduated Neutral Density filter
4) Neutral Density filter
UV Filters
It is true that most lenses have excellent UV coatings so putting a
UV filter on your lens is a bit redundant. Yet, these 'clear' lenses
can still provide protection from things that scratch like, dirt,
sea water, branches etc. It is much cheaper to replace a $20 filter
than it is to repair or replace the front element of your lens. Some
may argue that you shouldn't put a cheap filter on an expensive lens,
but the quality of the filters these days is good, and the protection
a filter provides far outweighs any loss of quality.
Polarizing Filters
Circular polarizing filters are designed to cut highlights and specular
highlights. They also turn your sky blue and can make white puffy
clouds really stand out. By turning the outside of the filter, you
can adjust how much polarization you want. To maintain a natural
looking image, you should only use the lower (least) half. If you
use too much, your the sky will be too blue and the contrast too
high, leaving you with a distorted looking image. Play around with
the filter to see which setting work best for you. These filters
work very well on water as they remove most of the specular highlights
and enable you to see into the water instead of just the surface.
These filters work best on sunny days and are most effective used
at a ninety degree angle to the sun. Regardless of what the salesman
in the camera shop says, unless you have reflections, polarizing
filters are not effective on cloudy days. Keep in mind, that using
a polarizer will reduce the amount of light through your lens by
.75 – 2 stops depending on how much you use. In order to avoid any
potential metering errors, make sure to get a circular (NOT linear)
polarizer for your digital DSLR. You cannot replicate the effects
of a circular polarizer in Photoshop. It is possible to simulate
some of the effects, but for cutting highlights, use a polarizer.
Many pro's consider this filter to be an essential part of their
kit and never leave home without one.
Graduated Neutral Density filters
Graduated neutral density filters are clear on one half and slightly
darker on the other. By aligning the darker half with a light sky,
you can balance the contrast in an image enabling you to meter more
effectively. These are usually rectangular and require a filter holding
system that screws onto the front of your lens. These filters come
in different densities or 'stops' (darkness) and are usually graduated,
meaning there is a smooth transition from one end to the other. This
ensures the filter is not visible in your shot. These work particularly
well for landscape images with a dark foreground and light sky.
Neutral Density filters
These are similar to a graduated filter, but these are consistently
dark from one end to the other. They do not add or affect the color,
but intentionally darken your image. If you are shooting a river
scenic on a bright day, there may be too much light for you to slow
down the image enough to blur the water. Using a neutral density
filter will darken your image enough for you to use a shutter speed
slow enough to blur the rushing water. These filters usually come
in 2 or 3 stop varieties.
A few other notes about filters:
1) Most of these filters can be replicated in retouching programs like
Photoshop, though the techniques can be advanced and time consuming.
For simple warming or cooling filters, simply add a "Photo Filter" layer
and choose the color temperature you want. To replicate the graduated
neutral density filter you must shoot the image twice. Expose once
for the foreground or darker part of the image, and then for the
second shot, expose correctly for the light part of the image. Then
combine the two images in Photoshop. This works best for still images,
since it is very difficult to blend images that do not match up exactly.
Keep in mind that extensive adjustments in Photoshop can degrade
the quality of your image.
2) When purchasing any round filter for your lenses, the size of the front element should be marked on or near the front of the lens. The size is usually given in mm.
3) The adage "You get what you pay for." holds true when buying filers. The moderate and more expensive filters will be of much higher quality. When buying filters, look for coated or super-coated filters. For round filters, Tiffin and Hoya make good filters at reasonable prices. B+W and Heliopan are excellent, but a bit more expensive. For square or rectangle filters (NDG or ND Filters) Singh-Ray, Hi-Tech, Lee all make very high quality filters. These filters also require a holder so make sure that the filters you buy fit your holder i.e.. square filter in a holder designed for a rectangle. Conkin makes popular holders.
Though many filters can be replicated in Photoshop, several should still be in your bag. Have them ready, learn to use them and you can bring your images to the next level.
- Colin McNulty - Rosmaru Expeditions