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Using filters

PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:55 pm
by Sharon
This is something I have just started doing more regularly. I've used a few different ND (natural density) filters for a while for doing long exposures... soft silky water things... but today I got a polarising filter. I went out in the the blue skied evening and headed for the beach, only for the blue sky to have turned a grubby shade of grey. However, I did still take a few quick test shots.... just to see, and I have to admit i am pleasantly surprised. Enough to share my moment of joy. Just watch those reflections / glare disappear and the sandy sand appear. So much more colour and clarity. Thumbs up for the polarising filter!

polarising-test.jpg

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 7:30 pm
by Lucky Poet
That's a pretty dramatic demonstration of polarising filters. I used to have one for a past camera, and I've been thinking of getting another for a while - they're brilliant things.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 7:42 pm
by Sharon
I had really mostly been thinking of how much more saturated colour becomes, I hadn't really considered how good the reflection killing can be. I should have photographed my kitchen window, no filter and all you get is a white glare coming back at you, and with filter you can see the net curtains (yes I said net curtains). Amazing really.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:33 pm
by Vinegar Tom
I was inspired to screw on my polariser by this thread and had a wee bash this afternoon. Not that great in overcast weather, and some nasty vignetting with the wide angle. I'll need to try again on a blue-sky day!

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 8:15 pm
by Monument
I often struggled with lack of of light in this country, when using mine. Seems to have a strange effect on the auto focus too. You have inspired me to try again.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 8:37 pm
by Sharon
Yes, auto-focus wasn't keen on it, i *think* i took it of focused and put it on again. I think that was due to the low light and lack of features to focus on though. I'm still most amazed by the reflection / glare killing qualities, I hope to see some sun someday to test the colour saturation concept out...

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 3:21 pm
by Seamey
Polarising filters - work really well on colourful glossy paint too.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 8:49 pm
by Lucky Poet
And on foliage, once Spring is properly sprung. The effect is amazing.

A handy wee tip on how to use polarising filters for blue skies, incidentally, given that they darken blue skies unevenly: the darkest part is always at 90 degrees to the sun. To find it, point your forefinger at the sun, with your thumb at a right angle. If you rotate your hand, so long as you're pointing at the sun, the band of darkest sky will be where your thumb points to. Honest.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:48 am
by Sharon
Nice tip LP! And Seamy - I took note of the reflecting paint when shooting yesterday; and enjoyed those reflecting, shiny painted doors turned back to their proper colour.

More filter testing... I should have done a test with only the 10 stop filter and one with only the polariser so I could see what the polariser was doing - if much in this scenario. I'm also quite taken by the effect of the water being smoothed from the long exposure (30s) I got using the 10 stop filter. It simplifies the image.

filtertests.jpg
. But I didn't!

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 10:08 am
by HelenD
Sharon wrote:Yes, auto-focus wasn't keen on it, i *think* i took it of focused and put it on again. I think that was due to the low light and lack of features to focus on though. I'm still most amazed by the reflection / glare killing qualities, I hope to see some sun someday to test the colour saturation concept out...

There are two types of polarising filter. On a microscopic level the have lines in them like a venetian blind. One type has them laid out in a linear fashion; the other has them laid out concentricly. One works with autofocus, the other struggles, but I can't remember which way round.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:15 pm
by Josef
The photo without the filter is not only better, but substantially better.

Maybe it's just me.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:53 pm
by Sharon
Josef wrote:The photo without the filter is not only better, but substantially better.

Maybe it's just me.


Well I never used to be keen on it, but I now quite like the flat water effect now as it does simplify a scene - for example here it means your eye goes to the bridge or the reeds instead of the water also competing for your attention.

This was taken on my way home last night to illustrate (to myself mostly!) the effects of using the 2 filters, and I guess whether you like the end result is subjective, but the effect of what the filter does is there to see. The polariser has saturated the colour a bit which I also quite like - although that's only subtly showing here.

Maybe you could expand on why you don't like the effect? I'm just dipping a toe into this and trying to work out what I like, so opinions can help!

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 3:04 pm
by Sharon
The net curtains example. Helen you are right, linear polarisers mean you can't use autofocus (just read that the other day) and with circular you can.

polarisertest.jpg

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 5:30 pm
by Josef
Sharon wrote:Well I never used to be keen on it, but I now quite like the flat water effect now as it does simplify a scene - for example here it means your eye goes to the bridge or the reeds instead of the water also competing for your attention.


... and that there is the single best reason for preferring the 'before' version. Instead of a 'cluttered' photo you'd look at several times, there's a 'simplified' one you'd take a glance at once. The removal of the framing created by the hanging twigs in the 'before' doesn't help, mind.

Not that I'm against minimalism. But that works where there is a 'story', or where the photograph itself creates one, which isn't the case here.

And having said that, the second example you posted is clearly far superior, but that's because it clarifies the scene.

Re: Using filters

PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 5:50 pm
by Sharon
Ah - this was really just a filter test not a picture taking exercise, it's the first place I was right next to the water when coming home last night, and yes the first pic does have superior framing. It was just the effect from the filter I thought was being commented on! Thanks though, food for thought.

And also a lesson in how test shots should be presented, both should be exactly the same for a proper comparison without distractions.

This bridge actually looks much better when photographed from the other side.

Oh, I've got another one I'll post in minute. (Been doing some filing...found some old pics when I first got the filter, and was unconvinced!)