With the growing amount of digital cameras, and post processing soft-wares…people tend to forget about the importance of filters. It seems like today people focus on multiple exposures to gain their increase in dynamic range. When showing my landscape photos I frequently and rigorously get asked how much photoshop went into a particular photo. People underestimate that during the right time and the right filters, pretty much anything is possible. In today’s post we will be discussing some of the more common filters I use, what they do, and how they affect the overall output of the photo.
Above you can see most of the filters that I own. Although it may appear to be overwhelming and unnecessary, each one of these are very important in determining the outcome of the final photo. Below will be a list of each filter, and a brief description of what they do.
Circular Polarizer – it reduces reflections from some surfaces, it can darken the sky, and it saturates the image more by eliminating unwanted reflections.
Graduated Neutral Density Filter – is clear in one half shading into a higher density in the other. It is usually used to create a balance between the foreground and the sky, to ensure no details are overexposed. These are available in different stops, as well as a smooth transition or a hard one.
Neutral Density Filter – is a filter of uniform density. It is used to allow a longer exposure (to create blur) or larger aperture (for selective focus) than required for correct exposure in the prevailing light conditions. These are available it numerous stops as well as drop in and screw on versions.
Depending on the route and brand you end up going with, you will need one….or in my case three, adapter rings. This part will screw onto you lens and hold the filtration system. The Lee Kit that I use, can stack up to three filters as well as a circular polarizer at the end.
This image is straight out of camera with no filters and no processing. It will be used as the base photo to compare all the others to.
In this photo I held up a 2-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter to demonstrate the effects over just a particular area. It darkens the skies, while keeping detail in the foreground.
This photo demonstrates what the scene looks like when the 2-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter is dropped in to the holder.
This photo shows the affect a circular polarizer has over just a portion of the entire scene. When doing landscaping this is the only filter used that is of the screw on type.
The photo above demonstrates what solely a polarizer will do to a scene. It darkens the sky a bit, and also boosts the saturation a significant amount in the sky as well as the ocean in the distance.
This photo includes both the circular polarizer as well as the 2-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter. The saturation remains, as well as the balance between the sky and the foreground and shadows and highlights.
This last photo was taken using a circular polarizer, the 2-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter, and a 10-stop Neutral Density filter. It allowed me to go from a 1/13 second exposure to a 78 second exposure. The clouds are a bit far away, but you can see the beginnings of some pretty interesting cloud movements.
The important part to focus when using filters is to experiment with stacking and the look you are going for. There is a slight learning curve, but as with everything in photography the more you use it the more comfortable you will get. A finished photo can be seen above ( it includes literally 2 minutes of processing). Hope you enjoyed the post.