Does Circular Polarising Filter help a lot when taking outdoor or direct to sun light?

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Permalink Reply by Ken chooi on February 6, 2009 at 8:53am

Hi , because I`m new to photography as well so I will use the original lense for few mouth first and see how `s going. because of my budget, I don`t want too rush to buy a new lense . I bought a tripod today . Because the weather here is freezing at the moment( England), so I`m not go out very often until it is getting warm a bit than I will do more pratice. Anyway thanks for reply and if I have any useful infornation that I will discuss with you.

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Permalink Reply by Murray Edwards on February 13, 2009 at 12:30pm

Using a off camera flash will add a little snap to your image, even in daylight, it will also reduce the shadows and add some fill light. Make sure you get a flash that tilts so you can bounce the flash and I would suggest a diffuser to soften the light when needed. Also off camera flashes tends to reduce the dreaded red eye problem that most people get when starting out. The angle at which the light hits the pupil is at higher level so there's less chance of reflection back. I have a SB600 which works for everything that I do.

Hopes that helps

Murray

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Permalink Reply by Njim on February 5, 2009 at 9:00pm

If you're going to be shooting in low lighting conditions all the time, I would suggest not getting one. However, if you're outside a lot and would like more muted colors in your shots, maybe a bit warmer in tone, and would like to tone down reflections, get a polarizing filter.

I mean, that's all they really do. They reduce the amount of light coming in through your lens. The outside of the filter is free to rotate, and when you do, if you can understand physics, you essentially turn on a shade over the window of the camera, preventing all light bouncing horizontally off of surfaces from reaching your camera.

Example: say you saw a car with glare on the paintwork or one of the windows. You would like to see inside the windows instead of seeing the sunlight blasting off of it, just rotate the polarizer until it's properly in place. You can see it in real time.

It's hard to correct this in Photoshop, but Photoshop can do wonders in different departments. Polarizers just change the light and sometimes the tone of your photo.

Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Ken chooi on February 6, 2009 at 8:22am

thanks for reply, very useful information. I think I wiill buy a polarizing filter next week. I have seen your photo and wish that can learn from you. thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bartholome on February 6, 2009 at 8:43am

The filter also will give a darker blue to the sky in pictures for landscapes.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Kiefer on February 6, 2009 at 12:05pm

i'm gonna ask a really dumb question. is the little arrow or triangle a directional indicator? do i turn it towards the sun? i mean i can kind of see what the difference is when i turn it, but what is the indicator for? it's not like the filter comes with any instructions...

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bartholome on February 6, 2009 at 1:15pm

Not sure if this will help with the polorizer but here is a site which helps. I was told to make my hand into a gun with the first finger pointing out and the thumb pointing up. If you point your thumb at the sun, the polorizing filter will work the best where ever your finger is pointing so if you can keep your thumb pointing at the sun and turn your hand, you can tell the best what to point the polorizer at.

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/filter/polarizer.html

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Permalink Reply by Trev0r Chr!st!ne on February 6, 2009 at 1:06pm

Take a look here....I owe that skyline to polarization. It really works best when the sun is behind you

Its always on my lens except for low light situations....I typically always shot in natural sunlight.

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Permalink Reply by Trev0r Chr!st!ne on February 6, 2009 at 1:08pm

oh yeah another thing.....spend the money on a great filter. Cheap filters flare and scratch easily. Hoya comes to mind when we talk about quality filters

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Permalink Reply by Mike Hiler on February 11, 2009 at 5:58pm

Great info by all. One thing I didn't notice discussed was the negative effect on the photo file itself.

One drawback to a polarizing filter is it inceases noise in the photo. If you're just shooting for yourself and you don't mind the minor increase in noise, go for it. If you have a noisy camera already and you intend to sell your photos, you might introduce more noise than you can adequately fix with software.

however, I recommend buying one just because you'll come across some situation one day that the polarizer will help solve. Just be sure to get a good one, not one of the $10 jobs.

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Permalink Reply by Ken chooi on February 12, 2009 at 2:16am

Hi Mike .Thanks for your information and very appreciate that . Happy Shooting.

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Permalink Reply by Ernie728 on February 13, 2009 at 8:53pm

yes hoyas are good filters if your going to get any filter have hoya in mind

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