Using a Polarizer

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The one filter that I always keep on my camera is a Polarizer. The polarizer is a neutral gray filter which serves several purposes:

Protects the lens from dust, debris, and flying rocks.

Lets face it. Dust will get on your lens. Many people are concerned about how to clean their lens, so they either don't, or they do it wrong. When you have the polarizer on your camera, it protects the lens, and all you need to do is clean the polarizer. If you scratch it, it will cost much less to replace it than if you scratch your lens. Also, although it has never happened to me, if a pebble or rock hits your lens, you might as well fork over a few hundred dollars to replace it. If a rock hits the polarizer, it will break, but leave your lens unharmed. $10-$15 dollars later and you are back in business.

Cuts down on glare and reflections from water and glass.

Besides protecting your lens, the polarizer will give you more control over your pictures. The polarizer filter itself screws onto the front of your lens. Once in place, there is an outer ring which allows you to rotate the filter in front of the lens. This allows you to control how much of an affect the filter will have on the pictures you take. Although the filter can remove glare from a picture, you can spin it in such a way that the glare remains intact. Giving another half twist to the filter removes the glare. I hate changing lenses and filters, so this feature gives you quick control over your scene without having to take off, or put on the filter.

Here are two thumbnails of pictures I've taken to show you what the polarizer filter does. While both were taken with the polarizer filter on the lens, one shows you how a scene looks when the polarizing effect is "turned off" while the other picture shows you the exact same scene with the polarizing effect "turned on." You can change this effect by turning the filter 90° in either direction. Click on the thumbnail to get a larger view.

Polarizer On

Polarizer Off

Brightness in the picture is better balanced

As you can see in the above pictures, the one with the polarizer effect turned on is a better balanced picture. The one without the polarizer effect looks too dark in some areas, and too light in others.

Colors look richer, more lifelike

Better brightness balance translates into better, more lifelike color. Without the polarizer, the pond only shows the reflection of the sky, which is overexposed. When the polarizer is added, you can see color within in the pond. You'll also notice that the tree on the left is much greener with the polarizer than without. This is more true to the actual color of the tree than when a polarizer is not used.

Remember to remove your Polarizer when you are using a flash.

Whenever I forget to do this, my pictures come back looking a little grainy, with low contrast. I think that the polarizer cuts down the exposure by one stop (or maybe even more when it is fully activated) and somehow screws up the camera's ability to get the correct exposure. That's just a guess, but whatever it does, the results are not pleasing to the eye. If you still want to protect your lens when you're not using your polarizer, get a skylight filter.

     
             
     

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