Filtering Reality

Article © 2005-09 by Jenna Caplette, with tips from our staff at F-11 Photographic Supplies

Before you head out this summer, check your filter collection to be sure it includes a polarizing filter.

What filter collection?

If you have a camera that allows you to change the lens — called a single lens reflex camera (SLR) -- specialty filters improve the quality of your photographs.

Commonly used for landscape pictures, a polarizing filter makes the blues of Montana’s big sky "pop." In fact, it increases the color saturation of your picture so that all your colors will be brighter. You can also use it to control reflections off of water and windows. You don’t need to use one at high noon, right after sunrise, or right before sunset. The light is naturally polarized at sunrise and sunset, and because the filter uses up about two stops of light, taking it off preserves precious light resources during this golden time of day.

If you wear a watch with a crystal, you can use that to confirm whether the light is already polarized. At sunset, you’ll see that your watch crystal is not reflective.

Graduated or split neutral density filters are also handy for taking photographs of summer skies and waters. These very specialized filters allow you to reduce the light to a specific part of the picture. So, if the sky is too bright and is going to be washed out, a graduated neutral density filter allows you to reduce the brightness of the sky without affecting the color. Rotate the filter in the other direction, and it will reduce the glittering brightness of a waterfall at the bottom of your picture. The downside of a split neutral density filter is that unless you’re adept at hiding it, you may have a dividing line in your picture. The graduated neutral density filter is more of an investment, but it doesn’t have a hard dividing line showing where the neutral density starts and stops, so that division won’t show in your photographs.

Going hiking? Want to save yourself from carrying too much additional weight? Try using a two-element close-up filter on a lens you already own. It’s a great way to add versatility to a telephoto lens, and still get great close-up shots. Using one of these filters on a telephoto lens blurs out the visually distracting background and gives a fairly long working distance from the subject. For bugs and other creepy crawlers that you may not want to get too close with, this filter allows you some distance.

Want a great soft-focus filter? Try a Lens Baby instead. Soft focus is often used at summer weddings or other events where you want to make a pretty portrait. You can also use them for landscapes, especially with flowers. The Lens Baby is a bendable lens, that allows you to easily move the focal point to any area of the picture you choose. You can make a tiny spot go sharp, while everything else softens. There’s a Lens Baby to match all popular camera mounts.

Ultimately, the way you learn photography, the way you learn what accessories might help you take the quality of pictures you want, is to go take pictures. When something doesn’t work the way you want, again and again, then go back to your camera store, or a book, or a friend who knows photography, and tell them what the problem is. Learn something new that gets you past that particular problem. That doesn’t mean that you’re done. It just means that you’re over that wall.

Choosing and learning to use the right accessory helps.