Beginner Polarised filters

Stevied

Stevied

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What polarised filters do you recommend and are they really an essential bit of kit?
 
Of all the filters out there, a polariser is probably the one to get as it does things that simply aren't possible in post production.

One of the annoying things about filters is that cheap ones are really crap and are more likely to put you off using them than inspire your photography so there is no point buying cheap.

Marumi filters keep getting good reviews at the cheaper end of the scale.
 
I've got a Marumi CPL and have been very happy with it. In 20 years I don't think I've used anything other than a CPL. But then again I don't shoot landscapes
 
As above. I have a Kenko Pro CPL (there isn't the same range of choice in South Africa) which has worked for me, although I don't take landscapes as a rule.

Make sure you understand how to use a polariser though. It's not difficult, but not completely self explanatory either. Do a bit of reading online, or ask here.
 
Stevied said:
What polarised filters do you recommend and are they really an essential bit of kit?
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If you only get one filter, a polariser is the one - for darkening blue skies and removing reflections. They're particularly good for landscapes as they darken blue sky (but not overcast sky) without darkening clouds and other areas, and at the same time they remove reflections from foliage leaves/grass and richens the colours.

But you have to know your angles. For blue sky, the effect is strongest at 90 degrees to the sun. Form a 'gun' with your forefinger and thumb at right-angles and point at the sun, then rotate your wrist and the thumb will scribe an arc in the sky where the strongest zone of polarised light is. Turn the filter in its mount for best effect. From this, it follows that a polariser will have no effect shooting straight into the sun (the polarised zone will be above and behind you) so keep the sun to the side or behind.

For killing reflections, the optimum angle is 35-40 degrees to the surface. Get that right and with careful rotation of the filter reflections will disappear completely but the effect reduces quickly either side. By happy coincidence, you'll often find that all this works together quite nicely with blue sky over shallow water so you can see beneath the surface, and with foliage there are always some leaves etc that just happen to sit at the optimum angle so that looks better too (y) With deep water, there's nothing but darkness below so it's often better to leave reflections alone. Polarisers have no effect on reflections off bare metal.

BTW, a 'circular' polariser doesn't refer to the shape - they can be square or round. It basically means the filter has an extra layer that 'circularises' the light so it doesn't upset the camera's metering and AF systems that can be sensitive to polarised light.
 
Bought a Polaroid polarizer off amazon. Wouldn't say it's too bad! No color fringing
 
As HoppyUK states, make sure you get a Circular polariser rather than a Linear one as the latter one can upset autofocus and metering in modern autofocus DSLR cameras.
 
I've used a polariser extensively for landscapes for many years. if you look at the angle of your shadow, you will get maximum polarisaion at 90 degrees to it.

However I recently attended a workshop with a very well known landscape photographer and he said "Just don't use them", so the anti-polariser backlash may have started!
 
jerry12953 said:
I've used a polariser extensively for landscapes for many years. if you look at the angle of your shadow, you will get maximum polarisaion at 90 degrees to it.

However I recently attended a workshop with a very well known landscape photographer and he said "Just don't use them", so the anti-polariser backlash may have started!
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What reasons did he give or was it just his own opinion?
 
HoppyUK said:
If you only get one filter, a polariser is the one - for darkening blue skies and removing reflections. They're particularly good for landscapes as they darken blue sky (but not overcast sky) without darkening clouds and other areas, and at the same time they remove reflections from foliage leaves/grass and richens the colours.

But you have to know your angles. For blue sky, the effect is strongest at 90 degrees to the sun. Form a 'gun' with your forefinger and thumb at right-angles and point at the sun, then rotate your wrist and the thumb will scribe an arc in the sky where the strongest zone of polarised light is. Turn the filter in its mount for best effect. From this, it follows that a polariser will have no effect shooting straight into the sun (the polarised zone will be above and behind you) so keep the sun to the side or behind.

For killing reflections, the optimum angle is 35-40 degrees to the surface. Get that right and with careful rotation of the filter reflections will disappear completely but the effect reduces quickly either side. By happy coincidence, you'll often find that all this works together quite nicely with blue sky over shallow water so you can see beneath the surface, and with foliage there are always some leaves etc that just happen to sit at the optimum angle so that looks better too (y) With deep water, there's nothing but darkness below so it's often better to leave reflections alone. Polarisers have no effect on reflections off bare metal.

BTW, a 'circular' polariser doesn't refer to the shape - they can be square or round. It basically means the filter has an extra layer that 'circularises' the light so it doesn't upset the camera's metering and AF systems that can be sensitive to polarised light.
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This is so great, I recently got a polariser and really wasn't sure how to use it. I got the gist and I knew what a polariser did but o really take advantage I just didn't know.
With the polariser it spins so one half of the filter brings out the colours and lessens reflections but, I haven't seen much difference to a picture without the filter on with the other half.
 
MalcolmF said:
What reasons did he give or was it just his own opinion?
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It was a highly regarded landscape photographer and a well-known designer/printer/publisher. It was related specifically to black-and-white conversions but it seemed to be a general comment, as in "you can do it all in software now"; which we know is not true. However It may have been due to subtle inter-relationships between colour densities and saturation which digital may be able to deal with more accurately. I was quite shocked, but I know some landscapers do not rate them as highly as I do!

Michelle Nelson said:
This is so great, I recently got a polariser and really wasn't sure how to use it. I got the gist and I knew what a polariser did but o really take advantage I just didn't know.
With the polariser it spins so one half of the filter brings out the colours and lessens reflections but, I haven't seen much difference to a picture without the filter on with the other half.
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They do really make a difference once you get to know how to use them. 90 degrees to the angle of the sun.
 
jerry12953 said:
It was a highly regarded landscape photographer and a well-known designer/printer/publisher. It was related specifically to black-and-white conversions but it seemed to be a general comment, as in "you can do it all in software now"; which we know is not true. However It may have been due to subtle inter-relationships between colour densities and saturation which digital may be able to deal with more accurately. I was quite shocked, but I know some landscapers do not rate them as highly as I do!
Click to expand...
Thank you.
 
I'm also sensing a backlash with filters in general at the moment. However i'm still on the fence with investing in a decent polariser. I shoot a lot of sunset and seascape shots. At the moment i've been using LR software grads to do the work. I'm pretty sure I need a polariser at least??
 
I bought a Hoya HD CPL [85mm lens] & can't knock it at all.

In fact I also have a Jessops one [35mm lens] from many many many years ago & I've no complaints on that either in all honesty.....!!
 
Mighty_Blighty said:
I'm also sensing a backlash with filters in general at the moment. However i'm still on the fence with investing in a decent polariser. I shoot a lot of sunset and seascape shots. At the moment i've been using LR software grads to do the work. I'm pretty sure I need a polariser at least??
Click to expand...

I'd say that was the one filter you can not do without.
 
This may sound silly, but a good way to get a handle on a polariser and the situations where it might be useful is just to wear a pair of polaroid sunglasses on a sunny day with a few clouds in the sky, ideally near a body of water. Which is as good an excuse to go to the beach as any. People do tend to give you funny looks when you start rotating your head to gauge the effect, though.
 
Retune said:
This may sound silly, but a good way to get a handle on a polariser and the situations where it might be useful is just to wear a pair of polaroid sunglasses on a sunny day with a few clouds in the sky, ideally near a body of water. Which is as good an excuse to go to the beach as any. People do tend to give you funny looks when you start rotating your head to gauge the effect, though.
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Thank you. My sunglasses are polarised. My family started looking at me strange when I was mentioning the amount of fish in the stream the other day and they couldn't see what I what I was seeing with the polarised lenses! Good advice though, thank you. I hadn't really thought about it like that!
 
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Stevied said:
What polarised filters do you recommend and are they really an essential bit of kit?
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Completely non-essential. They're in the realm of stuff that their marketeers would like you to buy, but truly it would be better if you put the effort into learning how to make photographs without them. Or at least, do that first before you get one.
 
Big fan of cpl's. I like the Hoya hd1 stuff. Whatever you get, worth seeking out a multi coated one.

For landscapes there are certain things that a polariser can do that just cannot be achieved by other means. For me it's mainly the ability to remove glare and reflections from water and foliage. That alone can make a massive difference.

I also use mine when shooting motorsport (when it's bright enough to get away with). It allows you to see through windscreens rather than just seeing a big slab of glare.
 
droj said:
Completely non-essential. They're in the realm of stuff that their marketeers would like you to buy, but truly it would be better if you put the effort into learning how to make photographs without them. Or at least, do that first before you get one.
Click to expand...


I'm intrigued as to how you learn to take glare of off water.
 
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