Filters are something that every photographer should think about, if they intend to become serious about their artwork. Filters not only help correct colour and contrast before the image reaches the lab, be it digital or darkroom, but also they can add fun effects to any image. It all depends on which filter you choose to use.
In this article, a list of all sorts of filters you can choose to apply to your work. Each comes with a short description of the effect it will render, and possibly some tricks to using it.
All filters with an asterisk (*) in front of them are meant for black and white photography, only. Of course, playing with them on colour photography is okay, too. It’s just not highly recommended.
Polarizer: This filter increases colour saturation
1, reduces reflections and glares, cuts through atmospheric haze (like fog), and generally heightens contrast. It is great for capturing skies and sunsets. You can see its effects while looking through the lens of your SLR
2 or DSLR
3 camera; and by rotating the filter the effect will change. A lot of how the filter will enhance the photo depends on the angle from which you are shooting the picture.
Diffusion: A diffusion filter softens a photo, and is great for portraits. It will reduce blemishes, soften and smooth wrinkles, and helps with harsh lines and contrasts. Overall, it doesn’t really hurt your sharpness either. These filters come in a variety of different strengths, depending on how much you want to soften the image. Generally, you don’t want anything too dramatic.
Fluorescent: It’s a basic filter used to get rid of the greenish cast a fluorescent light casts on objects. It will help keep your photo from looking seasick.
Neutral Light: A soft gray filter that will reduce the amount of light that reaches your film. It’s excellent for photography that’s being done in harsh light, such as an overly sunny day. Sometimes you can’t reduce your f-stop
4, or increase shutter speed
5, enough to compensate for the amount of light, and that’s where this filter comes in handy. It also helps you to control your depth-of-field
6 better, making it much easier to blur backgrounds in portrait photography. Depending on the density of the filter depends on the effect it will have—The higher the density, the less light that will reach the lens.
Special Effect: You can probably guess on these filters, but yes, they are used for creating dynamic special effects with your photographs. Star-scapes, distortions, colour-craziness; there are so many different things you can do with these.
Warming Effect: A pale-orange filter that helps to warm the colours of your photo. It also gives you a more natural setting on overcast days. This filter is especially good for portraiture of paler subjects, because it helps to put colour back into their skin.
UV Haze: This is a clear filter that removes a lot of the ultraviolet light from your pictures, which helps boost contrast and produce truer colours. It’s also great for protecting your lens, because it’s a lot cheaper to replace this filter than an entire lens.
*Red: This will absorb ultraviolet, violet, blue, and green light. It darkens a blue sky, and can thusly produce wonderful effects with clouds. It’s great for creating sharp contrast in pictures. It’s not ideal for portraiture, however, because it causes the subject to become very pale. Unless that’s the effect you’re going for, of course.
*Orange: It absorbs ultraviolet, violet and most blue light. It increases contrast, and will also lighten flesh tones, making it good for portraits. It’s also excellent for bringing out textures in different objects.
*Yellow: Absorbs ultraviolet and some blue-violet light. It will lighten reds and pinks, and so it is really bad for portraits. Instead, it is excellent for landscapes, snow, and cloud photography.
*Yellow-Green: This one absorbs ultraviolet and some blue light. Helps to darken skies, thus increasing the contrast for clouds. Helps reduce haze as well, making it an excellent outdoor filter. It helps to darken prominent features in portraits, and add brilliance to normal colour distribution.
*Green: This filter absorbs ultraviolet, violet, and some blue and deep red light. It softens light contrast, while increasing colour contrast. This means it smoothes out the difference between light and shadow. It works well for snow scenes and outdoor portraits.
*Blue: It absorbs red, yellow, green, and ultraviolet light. It helps with colour separation under indoor lighting, and also causes an emulsion colour blind
7. It will increase haze effects outdoors, and is also excellent when photographing white against the snow.
When you go out to purchase your filters, remember to check which millimeter (mm) they are, because that will tell you if they will fit on your lens or not. Of course, if necessary you can buy an adaptation ring, which will fix this issue. You may also need one if you go for square filters, since most lenses are round. Or, you can be cheap like most of us, and just hold it up to the lens.
With most high-class DSLR cameras, filters may be built-in to the menu settings. Check for it before buying them. Of course, you may only be able to use the filters on some settings as well. Digital cameras tend to be picky that way.
So start saving, and get some filters to enhance your photography! You won’t be disappointed.
Footnotes:
1. How vivid and intense the colour is.
2. Single Lens Reflex
3. Digital Single Lens Reflex
4. The aperture, or size of the opening in the camera lens. Kind of like the pupil in the eye. It regulates how much light gets through.
5. How fast the shutter moves, thus allowing light through. Like blinking. The longer it’s open, the more light that gets through.
6. How much is in focus in a picture.
7. Blue will register as white, and other colours become a variety of dark grays or black.