4 Essential Filters in Digital Photography
Filters are used in photography to add certain effects to your image. While there are arguments for and against the use of filters in digital photography, it is simply easier and more thorough to apply filters when making the photo than later during the digital post processing of the image.
There a few basic filters that every serious photographer should add to their kit. These filters are:
Polarizing Filters
Polarizing filters are extremely useful because they can reduce glare, improve the saturation of photos, and lessen the intensity of light sources. They are useful when shooting out side in bright sunlight. Often on these circumstances your photos will come out with harsh light and feel overexposed. Polarizers greatly improve these circumstances. There are two types of filters-linear and circular. Linear is used in film photography. Circular filters are used with autofocus cameras and with digital cameras. Both are made to rotate within the ring that attaches to the front of the lens. This usually requires some adjustment as the image is composed.
Neutral Density Filters
Neutral Density filters are primarily employed to reduce the shutter speed. They reduce the amount of light entering the camera all at once. These filters facilitate capturing movement in your shot. If there is a bright sun and you cannot get a slow enough shutter speed even with a narrow aperture, then one of these filters will extend your camera capabilities. Landscape photographers also frequently encounter situations when a neutral density filter is quite useful. They come in several densities from 0.3 to 0.9; they an be attacked as well thus one doesn’t have to buy one of each. In this article we review some of the best ND filters for DSLRs
If you want to be able to change the density of an ND filter without physically detaching it from the lens, you should look into graduated ND filters. These filters can be adjusted to match the stopping power you need. We’ve also listed a top 3 overview of the best variable ND filters.
Graduated Neutral Density Filters
Graduated Neutral Density filters are similar to those above, but there is a gradient in density from the level it is set-0.3, 0.6, 0.9-to clear filter glass. Very useful out of doors, in parks, or in situations where there is a bright background that needs to be toned-down to fit with the remainder of the scene.
UV Filters
UV filters are often referred to as haze filters because they do reduce the haze that we can’t see but is frequently seen by our cameras. The min function of one of these filters is be a shield in front of a very expensive piece of glass, the front element of your lens. Some say that this will cause your images to deteriorate somewhat, so it behooves one to purchase a decent piece of glass for this lens.
Good filters are not cheap. If you have three lenses with different sized threaded attachments on their front, you might think you are stuck with buying 12 filters! Not the case at all. There are rings one can obtain that will allow your smaller lenses to step to a size that works. Attach to your camera handily. Establish a hierarchy amongst your filters-say 72mm, 58mm, and 52mm. So how about step down rings? These are rarely used because they tend to have a vignetting effect.
More Information
If you want some more information on photography filters, there are many brief courses and articles available on the internet. Here are a few:
