The sixth essential creative option is the polarizer.
The polarizer is the only essential that can clean light. Without this one simple, extraordinarily easy-to-use option, you will not be able to rid glare from your image, which means it is impossible to capture the beautiful colors that lie beneath that glare. And since this is a tool that affects light before it enters the lens, then any data created by your camera’s sensor will reflect this glare as well and not the detail that lies beneath.
Polarizers In Focus
The Polarizer
If you don’t clean your light before it reaches your lens, then the choices you make as to the color and character of your image (such as any changes to White Balance, Tint, Hue, Contrast, Saturation and Sharpening you made) won’t have the dramatic effect you want. All you’ll be doing is changing the appearance of glare, not the colors.
This includes whether you make those adjustments before you take the picture or if you wait until you’re behind your computer. The effects a polarizer offers (cleaning light) can not be duplicated after the fact. You can’t strip glare once you’ve shot it. If you allow it into your lens, then you’re done. There is no going back. The data is corrupted.
The polarizer should be the very first filter you buy and should be kept on your lens at all times … day, night, inside or out. Glare may be a part of life, but it doesn’t have to be a part of your photographs.
Polarizers at Night
Familiarization Assignment
- Hold the filter in one hand in front of your left eye (filter threads facing you).
- Move through your home looking at everything … while rotating the filter slowly.
- Notice what happens to glare on all the surfaces.
Using a Polarizer
Using a polarizer is not complicated at all. Put one on the end of your lens, get yourself to a 90 degree angle (a right angle) from the light source creating the glare, rotate the polarizer until the glare is gone (you can see this happening through the lens) … then shoot. It’s that simple.
Click on the first image to launch the slideshow.
Keep It Inexpensive and Get One Soon
The polarizer need not be expensive, it does not need extra or specialized coating to do its job. A $30 polarizer will perform just as efficiently at removing glare as a $200 polarizer.
You’ll have a choice between circular and linear, both work fine. However, if you use autofocus or auto exposure, you’ll want to side with the circular version. Choose a polarizer to fit the end of your lens. Visit the Shop Photography Essentials for size options.
Note: The worst place for a polarizer to be is in your camera bag. If you’ve got one, put it on your lens and start experimenting with it now. If you don’t have one, then get one as quickly as possible. You won’t regret the purchase!
Polarizer Comparisons
What follows is a collection of images that show the difference a polarizer can make. In each set, the left image shows the damage glare can do, while the right image shows what happens when a polarizer is used correctly. We hope this inspires you to use your polarizer filter as much as possible.
Click the first image to launch the slideshow.
Next: In Support of Your Vision
This is post #8 of 16 of In Camera Magic: The 12 Essential Creative Options, a free online photography course for creating spectacular images right in the camera.
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