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Welcome to our website! My name is Don Lowe. My wife, Barb, and I want to share our travels with you and invite you along (at least, virtually) on vacation with us. Hopefully, you'll enjoy our photos & stories and maybe learn from our mistakes. Good luck to ya and Keep On Trippin'!
| My Most Used Filters | |||
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Filters can be a blessing or a curse. I think when you use the filter to overcome a limitation of the film, the light, or better represent what you actually see to what shows up on the film... they are a blessing. When you use them to create what's not there or to fool the viewer then they become a curse, at least in landscape photography which is what I do most. Example 1. I get up at 5am hike out to a spot I've picked out to catch the sunrise at this time of year so that it comes up right over the creek. I find that there's too much contrast between the sunrise and the foreground to properly reproduce on film. I slip in the graduated ND filter to darken the sunrise and lower the background to foreground contrast and take the picture. I would do this. Example 2. I sleep in and head out about 8am to my spot and the sunrise is gone. Not to worry. I slip on my sunrise#2 filter and make the sky a nice bright red and take the picture. I would NOT do this. Not that there's not a market for photos like this but I think they look phony. Nuff said! I use mainly three filters, polarizer, 81A(also B & C) warming, and a Graduated ND(neutral density). We'll look at each and why I use them. Polarizing  A polarizing filter reduces reflective light. This has the effect of darkening the sky and giving you more saturated colors. The amount of effect is adjustable and is varied by turning the front side of the filter. The good thing is that you can actually see the effect as you look thru the viewfinder and turn the polarizer. It reduces the glare from grass, leaves, water, whatever is somewhat shiny and you get greener greens, redder reds, etc. The filter by being adjustable lets you adjust the effect to suit you. Reflections on glass and water can be left as is or almost totally removed. If there is one filter on my lens all the time it would probably be this one.There are two types of polarizer linear and circular. The linears are for older manual focus cameras and lenses. The ones I have are not specifically designated as linear. If not designated as circular they will probably be linear. Circular polarizers are for the newer autofocus cameras and lenses and are usually designated as such. I guess, the signal bounced back to autofocus gets partially blocked by the linear polarizer. Though I haven't tried it I would expect a linear would work on an autofocus as long as it was focused manually but I don't know why you would want to. The downside is that the filter is dark itself, and the polarizing effect also reduces the amount of light entering the lens so you have increased exposure times. In most cases, this is not a problem. Most landscape photogs usually use a tripod anyway. Also, polarizers are generally more expensive, especially the circular type, than other filters. 81A Warming The 81 series Warming filters add a little warmth to your pictures which might be needed to compensate for the bluish cast of light in open shade. It can also boost the reds and yellows of fall foliage  |
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You'll have to experiment to see what suits you and your conditions but I've found that I used the 81A more when I used to shoot slide film and the 81B more with print film. I can't remember using the 81C. If I had to buy just one I'd get the 81A first. It is my second most used filter and evidently others as well because a lot are now offering a warming polarizer which is effectively what I get when I use both the polarizer and the 81A together. Update: I hardly ever use the warming filters anymore... I shoot in raw format and it's easier to change later and I have more control over it. Graduated ND  Is a filter that is graduated from clear to dark across the filter. The most normal use of it would be if you had a real bright sky and dark foreground. You'd position the dark part of filter over the sky to reduce the contrast between sky and foreground. That is the only way I've used it but I suppose if you had a real bright or distracting foreground area you could put the dark part down. For example, you are still in bright sunlight but really dark storm clouds are on the horizon... but I've never used it this way. Now I want to go try it.This is by no means an exhaustive look at filters it barely scratches the surface (something you don't want to do with filters). There are diffusion, soft-focus, split lens, color correction, temperature correction, special effect filter, the list goes on and on. Under the right circumstance there is probably a use for them all. Before I go, I might as well weigh in on the age old topic of lens protection. Most filter sites and books tell you to use a UV Haze or Skylight filter for lens protection. I don't normally, do this, I just use the lens cap for protection. Action shooters or wildlife photographers might find this advantageous but I usually have plenty of time to get the lens cap off before we shoot. If you're shooting around spraying water, especially salt water, it might be a good idea. I just figure the less glass between the film and the scene the better. I hope you got something from this. If nothing else follow the links in the next section to more better info. Filter Links Links to some of the filter makers where you can find info on their brand of filters and also learn more about how to use the filters and what they do. These are just some of the major brands almost every camera/lens maker also makes filters. I've also included a link here to B&H Photo's Guide to Using Filters which contains more info than I covered here. I don't recommend any over the others these are just the ones I had links for. I have Tiffen and Hoya mostly with a couple Promaster filters I had to buy at the local photo store. Every photgrapher will probably tell you different. If I had to recommend one it would be Tiffen... or Hoya...Cokin if you don't want screw-ins... I thought I said I wasn't going to recommend any. I do recommend you get comparative quality. Don't buy the cheapest filters you can find... unless you also buy the cheapest lenses! - Don Lowe |
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