Polarizing Filters - What Are They? What Do They Do? Do I Need One?

Polarizing Filters - What Are They? What Do They Do? Do I Need One? Hi and welcome to Episode 135 of the Photography Explained podcast.

Here is the answery bit
Polarizing filters are normally attached to the front of a camera lens, and filter out reflected light waves giving clearer images. Polarizing filters are used to reduce reflections, darken skies and also can enhance contrast, saturation, colours and vividness in a photo.

So pretty good then? And yes I have one. And I love it.

What’s next?
Episode 136 - How Many Types Of Filters Are There In Photography?

Transcript

Polarizing Filters - What Are They? What Do They Do? Do I Need One? Hi and welcome to Episode 135 of the Photography Explained podcast.

I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. OK, there was some Googling in this episode.

Right - here is the answery bit

Polarizing filters are normally attached to the front of a camera lens, and filter out reflected light waves giving clearer images. Polarizing filters are used to reduce reflections, darken skies and also can enhance contrast, saturation, colours and vividness in a photo.

So pretty good then? And yes I have one. And I love it.

OK, let’s look at the answery bit in more detail.

Attached to the front of the camera lens?

You attach a polarizing filter to the front of your camera lens, using the filter thread. The filter has to be placed in front of the lens as it is filtering out unwanted light. So what the filter does cannot be undone, as it is reducing certain light from getting through to the camera sensor. But don’t worry, this is a good thing, not a bad thing.

 If you have a range of lenses with different filter thread sizes you will need one filter per filter thread size. Yes, one filter per lens filter thread size, which can become expensive. But don’t worry, it’s ok, I have a top, top tip for you which I will cover in an upcoming episode – spoiler alert – I am talking about step up and step down rings.

You used to able to get them that fitted into holders attached to the lens, but the convention these days is circular ones that screw into the filter thread. 

Filter out reflected light waves

Now I am not clever enough to tell you how this actually happens, other than to tell you that it, erm, it filters out reflected light waves. No I will pass on this one, and try to explain this with some specific examples. This is a level of detail that does not help me.

Reduce reflections – of what?

• Glass
• Water
• Wet streets
• Cars
• Buildings
• Anything reflective or wet

Darken skies

Quite simply, rotate a circular polarising filter and it darkens the sky. A word of caution here – you want the sky to look natural and realistic though so always keep that in mind.

Enhance colours, contrast, saturation, and vividness in a photo.

Basically a circular polarizing filter can make photos look better. It especially enhances natural colours in landscapes, making foliage and the like more vibrant.

Linear and circular?

I use circular polarizing filters. And I believe most people do. Thinking about it I have never used, or indeed owned a linear polarizing filter. Let’s move on.

Photoshop?

Can you create the effect of a polarizing filter in Photoshop? Some will say yes, but I choose to do this in camera.

Are there any downsides?

Well like all things, some people like the effects, some people do not. There is no right or wrong. You can use them all the time and that could be your thing. Up to you. You need to be aware that if you are taking a set of images that you need to be able to get consistent results. As the light that you are filtering out is directional, this will vary from location to location, depending on your orientation to the light and the subject matter.

And you get a reduction in the amount of light that gets through to the camera sensor, resulting in a slower shutter speed or a higher ISO.

The reduction in light is generally around 2 stops, making the viewfinder darker but normally still usable – not like with my 10 stop ND filter where I can’t see a thing.

That’s all though.

Who uses them?

Landscape photographers, architectural photographers, urban landscape photographers, travel photographers, car photographers, product photographers. Me.

All sorts of photographers use them, I have just listed the ones that I thought of. Basically, anyone who wants the effects and enhancements to images that I have described.

What do you actually do?

Simple. Rotate the filter and see what happens. It is a very visual, wonderful thing. And with a digital camera you can see what the effects of with varying degrees of rotation.

Do I Need One?

I don’t know – do you? I would say yes, and as always if this is new to you start off with a cheap one and give it a go accepting that there will be a loss of image quality using a cheap filter. But you will learn if it is for you or not. And you need to be honest here – will it really help you with your photography?

If it won’t then fine, don’t get one. But if it does then get the best polarizing filter that you can, as it will give you many years of service if you look after it. I have had mine for over 10 years now.

The talky bit

More sunglasses for cameras– I love that. Same as ND filters. Polarizing filters are sunglasses for cameras. I have a pair of polarizing sunglasses, and I walk around wearing them tilting my head left and right and loving what the polarizing effect does.

Yes I live my outside life in a polarized world. Everything is more contrasty and clearer. Greens are brighter and more vivid. I can move my head and increase or reduce reflections.

I live a polarized life and boy does it look good. So good that when I do not have my sunnies on life does not quite look that good……

Oh well, my polarizing filter is one of my favourite bits of gear, and writing about this has reminded me that I must get out of minimalist mode and use my polarizing filter more. This is the beauty of my podcast – I cover things that I have almost forgotten about myself, such as polarizing filters, and now I cannot wait to get out there and have a play with one.

But don’t overdo it ok? If you want to be the person who takes every photo with a polarizing filter then fine. Actually that is not a bad idea. I have had thoughts like this before haven’t I? No that could be a thing, and we all need to have our own thing.

And yes it is spelt with a Z, not an S as I thought. I don’t know why I thought it was spelt with an S, I just naturally started typing and using an S instead of a Z. Oh well, I know now.

Can a polarizing filter be used to remove me from a mirror? No, unfortunately not. Now that would be a very cool filter, but I am afraid this is a step too far. Maybe someone can come up with a reflection removing filter? The closest I have come to that is a tilt shift lens.

What do I do?

I have a circular polarizing filter. I have used it loads in the past, but not so much recently. And I am going to dig it out, give it a clean and put it in my work photography bag.

Reducing reflections of glass on buildings is one thing. And that is just the beginning. With a circular polarizing filter you get a different look when you rotate the filter – it is quite hard to describe but I have used one to great effect in the past.

I won’t use it for real estate photography work, as this is about creating what people will be actually looking at. But for architectural work, and other photographing of buildings that I do for other reasons there is definitely a place for polarizing filters.

Which all has to be good right? We need to be able to do something a bit different. And anything that makes photos look better cannot be a bad thing can it?

Next episode

Photography Explained Podcast Episode 136 – How Many Types Of Filters Are There In Photography?

I want to wrap up my quick dive into filters in the next episode before moving on to something new which I am rather excited about.

If you have a photography question you would like me to answer, in plain English, in less than 10 minutes (ish), without the irrelevant details, just head over to PhotographyExplainedPodcast.com/start. You can also find out more about me and my podcast, and also ways to help me.

So send me your question, or just say hi – it would be great to hear from you.

This episode was powered by, wait for it, an egg and cress sandwich made by the lovely Mrs M, accompanied by a bag of prawn cocktail crisps. Home crisps, washed down with an ice cold Diet Pepsi, sat here in my overly warm, home-made, acoustically cushioned recording emporium (avoiding next doors gardening activities).

I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here), and for giving me 10 (ish) minutes of your valuable time.

Take care, stay safe

Cheers from me Rick