Beginner Do I need filters if so which ones ?

[graycbr]

hi guys
trying to make my mind up on a beginners set of filters for landscapes etc ..
Made a another thread on make & which ones I need & got a few reply's asking which ones I need (which I don't know) ..
And a few reply's saying do I really need them ,do the work in PS etc ..
So this is why I started this thread ..
So two questions really
1.
Do I need filters.
2.
If so which ones for a starter set & the reasons why & when you will use them .
Any reply's would be a great help

 

[Jim_Tod]

Graduated ND filters- suggest 2 & 3 stop or 2 & 4 stop. Decision on soft or hard grad depends on whether you're likely to have a defined line you can use, e.g. seascape between lighter and darker areas or not

I would suggest the adapter and filter holder approach to these as you can use i with all your lenses, Hitech, Lee, Kood, etc.

Buy the best filoters you can afford and probably better to start with one, say 3 stop grad, if budget is tight.

Use them whenever the dynamic range of the scene is going to be too high to get a shot without blocked shadows or blown highlights.

I'm sure someone will recommend a polarising filter- can't comment as I've not got one and don't know how often I would use it.

Others are happy to take a range of shots and blend in photoshop to get all the detail

I prefer the filter approach personally

 

[Alastair]

Go take some landscape photos, see how you get on, see if you run into any problems that a filter will fix.

Stop over-analysing this.. it's only getting in the way of going out and shooting some landscapes!

 

[Cobra]

I suggest that you stick to one thread about the subject instead of diluting the answers / responses across the forums.
People will soon get bored answering the same questions in different forums.

 

[MartynK]

Graham, the fact that you're asking these questions suggests that you have very little experience in landscape photography. Just save your money for now. Take lots of photographs, study them, play around with post processing, read books/articles, watch online tutorials, ask questions on the forums and post images for comment and critique. Take more photographs then work out what filters you need based on what you want to achieve, and how much you're willing to spend on them.

 

[graycbr]

Graham, the fact that you're asking these questions suggests that you have very little experience in landscape photography. Just save your money for now. Take lots of photographs, study them, play around with post processing, read books/articles, watch online tutorials, ask questions on the forums and post images for comment and critique. Take more photographs then work out what filters you need based on what you want to achieve, and how much you're willing to spend on them.

no experience at all in landscape photography ,that's why starting to ask questions ..

 

[Alastair]

no experience at all in landscape photography ,that's why starting to ask questions ..

You don't need filters. Just go take some landscapes photos and find out...

 

[droj]

Try and decide as you go along what it is that you want from photography. To some people it's more about buying, owning and playing with equipment than the meaning of what's actually in the picture frame - a consumerist bias, if you like. As a little perspective on owning yet more 'stuff' - you are mortal, and can't take any of it with you ... it'll be just more clutter for your inheritors to deeal with.

 

[graycbr]

You don't need filters. Just go take some landscapes photos and find out...

Yes I will ,but its in the back of my mind if I go somewhere & take a picture knowing I will not be going back to the same place again , & it would be 10 times better if I put on a certain filter to blur the water etc etc ..
This was the main reason if there was a basic starter set to landscape pictures ...

 

[Mark Ross]

I'd get a circular polariser first as that's the one filter you can't recreate when post processing or by combining multiple exposures. I like the Marumi polarisers - very good quality and not as expensive as some of the other brands. If you want to blur water you will need an ND filter (probably at least 3 stop) which can either be one that screws on the front of the lens or the square type that you use with a holder. For the square filters I like the Hi-tech filters and holders - again good quality but cheaper than brands like Lee.

 

[Alastair]

Yes I will ,but its in the back of my mind if I go somewhere & take a picture knowing I will not be going back to the same place again , & it would be 10 times better if I put on a certain filter to blur the water etc etc ..
This was the main reason if there was a basic starter set to landscape pictures ...

There is plenty landscape around Sutton Bridge to practice on before you make any once-in-a-lifetime trip (I know because I'm only 15 minutes down the road). Not practising landscape photography before such a trip would be more foolish than not having a filter you may or may not need.

Incidentally, you now mention "blurring water" when you've previously been talking about general landscapes and specifically landscapes in the snow. I get the impression you want to have a go at everything - which is a worthwhile idea in the long run, but spending cash on filters without a specific goal to achieve gets both expensive and frustrating.

Decide what you want to do first, just one thing - is it blurring water movement with long exposures? If it is that only requires one filter, a neutral density filter and you could start out with an inexpensive Tiffen ND screw-in filter for this and see how you get along. You're then going to ask which one?what strength of filter? etc. If you go out and *take a photograph* that will give you a base exposure from which you can *calculate* the strength of filter you need to extend the shutter speed to your target speed.



I don't think you really want to take landscape photos, or you'd already be doing it and finding out from experience what you can achieve without a filter and then investigating what a filter might add on top of this basic level of experience.

Buying filters does't make you a landsacpe photographer - only taking photographs of landscapes does this.


If this sounds aggressive/controversial, remember you've spent a huge amount of effort creating one thread after another on this topic and in all this time you've not found the time to take and post a single landscape photograph. There is no shortage of landscape within 5 minutes of Sutton Bridge.