Polarizer

Main article: Polarizing filter (Photography)

A polarizing filter, used both in color and black and white photography, filters out light
polarized perpendicularly to the axis of the filter. This has three applications in
photography: it reduces reflections from some surfaces, it can darken the sky and it
saturates the image more by eliminating unwanted reflections.

Neutral density

A neutral density filter (ND filter) is a filter of uniform density which attenuates light of
all colors equally. It is used to allow a longer exposure (to create blur) or larger aperture
(for selective focus) than required for correct exposure in the prevailing light conditions,
without changing the tonal balance of the photograph.

A graduated neutral density filter is a neutral density filter with different attenuation at
different points, typically clear in one half shading into a higher density in the other. It
can be used, for example, to photograph a scene with part in deep shadow and part
brightly lit, where otherwise either the shadows would have no detail or the highlights
burnt out.

Clear and ultraviolet

Visible electromagnetic spectrum. UV spectrum is at 400nm.

Clear filters, also known as window glass filters or optical flats, are completely
transparent, and (ideally) perform no filtering of incoming light at all. The only use of a
clear filter is to protect the front of a lens.

UV filters are used to reduce haziness created by ultraviolet light. A UV filter is mostly
transparent to visible light, and can be left on the lens for nearly all shots. UV filters are
often used for lens protection, much like clear filters. A strong UV filter, such as a Haze-
2A or UV17, cuts off some visible light in the violet part of the spectrum, and so has a
pale yellow color; these strong filters are more effective at cutting haze,[2][3] and can
reduce purple fringing in digital cameras.[4] Strong UV filters are also sometimes used for
warming color photos taken in shade with daylight-type film.

Contrast enhancement

Filters are commonly used in black and white photography to manipulate contrast. For
example a yellow filter will enhance the contrast between clouds and sky by darkening
the latter. Orange and red filters will have a stronger effect. A deep green filter will
darken the sky too but will lighten green foliage and will make it stand out against the
sky. Also see diffusion filters, which are used to reduce contrast.
Infrared cut-off filters, sometimes called IR filters or heat-absorbing filters, are
designed to reflect or block mid-infrared wavelengths while passing visible light. They
are often used in devices with bright incandescent light bulbs (such as slide and overhead
projectors) to prevent unwanted heating. There are also filters which are used in solid
state (CCD or CMOS) video cameras to block IR due to the high sensitivity of many
camera sensors to near-infrared light. These filters typically have a blue hue to them as
they also sometimes block some of the light from the longer red wavelengths.

Circular Polarizer and Moose Filters

A polarizing filter removes unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as water and
glass. They also enable colors to become more saturated and appear more clear, with better
contrast. This effect is often used to increase the contrast and saturation in blue skies and white
clouds. Polarizing filters do not affect the overall color balance of a shot.

A circular polarizer filter (CPL) is generally required if you want to use the "auto-focus" feature in
your camera. If you are manually focusing your camera, you may be able to save some money
by using a less expensive linear polarizer

These filters are for all video, still, digital and film cameras.
Camera lens filters still have many uses in digital photography, and should be an
important part of any photographer's camera bag. These can include polarizing filters to
reduce glare and improve saturation, or simple UV/haze filters to provide extra protection
for the front of your lens. This article aims to familiarize one with these and other filter
options that cannot be reproduced using digital editing techniques. Common
problems/disadvantages and filter sizes are discussed towards the end.

OVERVIEW: LENS FILTER TYPES

The most commonly used filters for digital photography include polarizing
(linear/circular), UV/haze, neutral density, graduated neutral density and
warming/cooling or color filters. Example uses for each are listed below:

Filter Type Primary Use Common Subject Matter

Linear & Circular Reduce Glare Sky / Water / Foliage
Polarizers Improve Saturation in Landscape Photography
Waterfalls, Rivers
Neutral Density (ND) Extend Exposure Time
under bright light
Graduated Neutral Control Strong Light Gradients
Dramatically Lit Landscapes
Density (GND) Reduce Vignetting
Improve Clarity with Film
UV / Haze Any
Provide Lens Protection
Landscapes, Underwater,
Warming / Cooling Change White Balance
Special Lighting

LINEAR & CIRCULAR POLARIZING FILTERS

Polarizing filters (aka "polarizers") are perhaps the most important of any filter for
landscape photography. They work by reducing the amount of reflected light that passes
to your camera's sensor. Similar to polarizing sunglasses, polarizers will make skies
appear deeper blue, will reduce glare and reflections off of water and other surfaces, and
will reduce the contrast between land and sky.

Select: No Polarizer Polarizer at Max

two separate handheld photos taken seconds apart

Note how the sky becomes a much darker blue, and how the foliage/rocks acquire
slightly more color saturation. The intensity of the polarizing effect can be varied by
slowly rotating your polarizing filter, although no more than 180 of rotation is needed,
since beyond this the possible intensities repeat. Use your camera's viewfinder (or rear
LCD screen) to view the effect as you rotate the polarizing filter.

The polarizing effect may also increase or decrease substantially depending on the
direction your camera is pointed and the position of the sun in the sky. The effect is
strongest when your camera is aimed in a direction which is perpendicular to the
direction of the sun's incoming light. This means that if the sun is directly overhead, the
polarizing effect will be greatest near the horizon in all directions.

However, polarizing filters should be used with caution because they may adversely
affect the photo. Polarizers dramatically reduce the amount of light reaching the
camera's sensoroften by 2-3 f-stops (1/4 to 1/8 the amount of light). This means that
the risk of a blurred handheld image goes up dramatically, and may make some action
shots prohibitive.

Additionally, using a polarizer on a wide angle lens can produce an uneven or unrealistic
looking sky which visibly darkens. In the example to the left, the sky could be considered
unusually uneven and too dark at the top.

Linear vs. Circular Polarizing Filters: The circular polarizing variety is designed so
that the camera's metering and autofocus systems can still function. Linear polarizers are
much less expensive, but cannot be used with cameras that have through-the-lens (TTL)
metering and autofocusmeaning nearly all digital SLR cameras. One could of course
forego metering and autofocus, but that is rarely desirable.

NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS

Neutral density (ND) filters uniformly reduce the amount of light reaching the camera's
sensor. This is useful when a sufficiently long exposure time is not otherwise attainable
within a given range of possible apertures (at the lowest ISO setting).

Situations where ND filters are particularly useful include:

Smoothing water movement in waterfalls, rivers, oceans, etc.

Achieving a shallower depth of field in very bright light
Reducing diffraction (which reduces sharpness) by enabling a larger aperture
Making moving objects less apparent or not visible (such as people or cars)
Introducing blur to convey motion with moving subjects

photo with a smoothed water effect from a long exposure

However, only use ND filters when absolutely necessary because they effectively discard
lightwhich could otherwise be used to enable a shorter shutter speed (to freeze action),
a smaller aperture (for depth of field) or a lower ISO setting (to reduce image noise).
Additionally, some ND filters can add a very slight color cast to the image.

Understanding how much light a given ND filter blocks can sometimes be difficult since
manufacturers list this in many different forms:

Amount of Light Reduction

Hoya, B+W and Cokin Lee, Tiffen Leica
f-stops Fraction
1 1/2 ND2, ND2X 0.3 ND 1X
2 1/4 ND4, ND4X 0.6 ND 4X
3 1/8 ND8, ND8X 0.9 ND 8X
4 1/16 ND16, ND16X 1.2 ND 16X
5 1/32 ND32, ND32X 1.5 ND 32X
6 1/64 ND64, ND64X 1.8 ND 64X

Generally no more than a few f-stops is need for most waterfall scenarios, so most
photographers just keep one or two different ND filter amounts on hand. Extreme light
reduction can enable very long exposures even during broad daylight.

GRADUATED NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS

Graduated neutral density (GND) filters restrict the amount of light across an image in a
smooth geometric pattern. These are sometimes also called "split filters". Scenes which
are ideally suited for GND filters are those with simple lighting geometries, such as the
linear blend from dark to light encountered commonly in landscape photography (below).

GND Filter Final Result

Prior to digital cameras, GND filters were absolutely essential for capturing dramatically-
lit landscapes. With digital cameras one can instead often take two separate exposures
and blend these using a linear gradient in photoshop. On the other hand, this technique is
not possible for fast moving subject matter or changing light (unless it is a single
exposure developed twice from the RAW file format, but this increases image noise).
Many also prefer using a GND to see how the final image will look immediately through
the viewfinder or rear LCD.

GND filters come in many varieties. The first important setting is how quickly the
filter blends from light to dark, which is usually termed "soft edge" or "hard edge" for
gradual and more abrupt blends, respectively. These are chosen based on how quickly the
light changes across the scene, where a sharp division between dark land and bright sky
would necessitate a harder edge GND filter, for example. Alternatively, the blend can
instead be radial to either add or remove light fall-off at the lens's edges (vignetting).

Soft Edge GND Hard Edge GND Radial Blend

note: in the above diagrams white = clear, which passes 100% of the light

Placing the blend should be performed very carefully and usually requires a tripod. The
soft edge is generally more flexible and less forgiving of misplacement. On the other
hand, a soft edge may produce excessive darkening or brightening near where the blend
occurs if the scene's light transitions faster than the filter. One should also be aware that
vertical objects extending across the blend may appear unrealistically dark

Location of GND
Choose: Final Photo
Blend
Note how the rock columns become nearly black at their top compared to below the
blend;
this effect is often unavoidable when using GND filters.

A problem with the soft and hard edge terminology is that it is not standardized from one
brand to another. One company's "soft edge" can sometimes be nearly as abrupt a blend
as another company's so called "hard edge". It is therefore best to take these on a case by
case basis and actually look at the filter itself to judge the blend type. Most manufacturers
will show an example of the blend on their own websites.

The second important setting is the differential between how much light is let in at
one side of the blend versus the other (the top versus bottom in the examples directly
above). This differential is expressed using the same terminology as used for ND filters
in the previous section. A "0.6 ND grad" therefore refers to a graduated neutral density
filter which lets in 2 f-stops less light (1/4th) at one side of the blend versus the other.
Similarly, a 0.9 ND grad lets in 3 f-stops less light (1/8th) at one side. Most landscape
photos need no more than a 1-3 f-stop blend.

HAZE & UV FILTERS

Nowadays UV filters are primarily used to protect the front element of a camera lens
since they are clear and do not noticably affect the image. With film cameras, UV filters
reduce haze and improve contrast by minimizing the amount of ultraviolet (UV) light that
reaches the film. The problem with UV light is that it is not visible to the human eye, but
is often uniformly distributed on a hazy day; UV therefore adversely affects the camera's
exposure by reducing contrast. Fortunately, digital camera sensors are nowhere near as
sensitive to UV light as film, therefore UV filtration is no longer necessary.

77 mm UV filter

However, UV filters have the potential to decrease image quality by increasing lens flare,
adding a slight color tint or reducing contrast. Multicoated UV filters can dramatically
reduce the chance of flare, and keeping your filter very clean minimizes any reduction in
image quality (although even invisible micro abrasions will affect sharpness/contrast).
High quality UV filters will not introduce any visible color cast.

For digital cameras, it is often debated whether the advantage of a UV filter (protection)
outweighs the potential reduction in image quality. For very expensive SLR lenses, the
increased protection is often the determining factor, since it is much easier to replace a
filter than to replace or repair a lens. However, for less expensive SLR lenses or compact
digital cameras protection is much less of a factorthe choice therefore becomes more a
matter of personal preference.

Another consideration is that UV filters may increase the resale value of the lens by
keeping the front lens element in mint condition. In that sense, a UV filter could also
even be deemed to increase image quality (relative to an unfiltered lens) since it can be
routinely replaced whenever it is perceived to adversely affect the image.

COOL & WARM FILTERS

Cooling or warming filters change the white balance of light reaching the camera's
sensor. This can be used to either correct an unrealistic color cast, or to instead add one,
such as adding warmth to a cloudy day to make it appear more like during sunset.

Above image's orange color cast is from the monochromatic sodium streetlamps;
with this type of light source virtually no amount of white balance correction can restor
full color.
A cooling filter or special streetlight filter could be used to restore color based on other
light sources.

These filters have become much less important with digital cameras since most
automatically adjust for white balance, and this can be adjusted afterwards when taking
photos with the RAW file format. On the other hand, some situations may still necessitate
color filters, such as situations with unusual lighting (above example) or underwater
photography. This is because there may be such an overwhelming amount of
monochromatic light that no amount of white balance can restore full coloror at least
not without introducing huge amounts of image noise in some color channels.
PROBLEMS WITH LENS FILTERS

visible filter vignetting

Filters should only be used when necessary because they can also adversely affect the
image. Since they effectively introduce an additional piece of glass between your
camera's sensor and the subject, they have the potential to reduce image quality. This
usually comes in the form of either a slight color tint, a reduction in local or overall
image contrast, or ghosting and increased lens flare caused by light inadvertently
reflecting off the inside of the filter.

Filters may also introduce physical vignetting (light fall-off or blackening at the edges of
the image) if their opaque edge gets in the way of light entering the lens (right example).
This was created by stacking a polarizing filter on top of a UV filter while also using a
wide angle lenscausing the edges of the outermost filter to get in the way of the image.
Stacking filters therefore has the potential to make all of the above problems much worse.

NOTES ON CHOOSING A FILTER SIZE FOR A CAMERA LENS

Lens filters generally come in two varieties: screw-on and front filters. Front filters are
more flexible because they can be used on virtually any lens diameter, however these
may also be more cumbersome to use since they may need to be held in front of the lens.
On the other hand, filter holder kits are available that can improve this process. Screw-on
filters can provide an air-tight seal when needed for protection, and cannot accidentally
move relative to the lens during composure. The main disadvantage is that a given screw-
on filter will only work with a specific lens size.
The size of a screw-on filter is expressed in terms of its diameter, which corresponds to
the diameter usually listed on the top or front of your camera lens. This diameter is listed
in millimeters and usually ranges from about 46 to 82 mm for digital SLR cameras. Step-
up or step-down adapters can enable a given filter size to be used on a lens with a smaller
or larger diameter, respectively. However, step-down filter adapters may introduce
substantial vignetting (since the filter may block light at the edges of the lens), whereas
step-up adapters mean that your filter is much larger (and potentially more cumbersome)
than is required.

The height of the filter edges may also be important. Ultra-thin and other special filters
are designed so that they can be used on wide angle lenses without vignetting. On the
other hand, these may also be much more expensive and often do not have threads on the
outside to accept another filter (or sometimes even the lens cap).

For a more in-depth discussion of polarizing filters, also see this tutorial:
Understanding & Using Polarizing Filters