What Filters Should Every Photographer Have?

Digital photography has changed the way photographers both take photos and process them. Before, certain effects were only possible after painstaking post processing in the darkroom; now, computer software can effectively recreate these techniques without ruining the original photo. Despite current software capability, there are still a number of camera filters that you should own. Getting the effect right from the beginning will not only save you a great deal of time in post-processing, but will also increase the overall quality of that effect.

This filter fits on top of your camera lens and offers several different effects. The lens can be rotated 360 degrees to change which light is filtered out or absorbed. The filter will always block out some light, so it isn't suited well for low-light photography. During the day, the filter cuts out glare and deepens colors. In particular, it will make the sky an even deeper blue. You can reduce reflections on water and create a see-through affect if you zoom in closely. Leaves and foliage will also look less shiny, and the overall color saturation will increase to give your photographs bigger pop.

The influence of a basic UV filter is less pronounced for the digital photographer as it was for film, but no less valuable. The UV cuts down on the haze and fog and results in a sharper overall photograph. More importantly, it is a means of protection for your expensive lenses. If you drop or hit your unprotected lens, you could permanently damage it. UV filters are very inexpensive and will add an extra level of protection. Be sure to carry a UV filter for every lens you own; these should remain on the lens at all times.

To combat low-light situations, photographers use a flash or a faster lens to capture more light. The neutral density filter serves the opposite purpose; it allows the photographer to create a darker scene if there is too much light. If you are trying to photograph something in motion, like water, too much light will stop this motion. Instead of a natural, smooth looking waterfall, the water will look motionless. This filter is a sheet of dark glass that reduces the amount of light let into the lens. That way, you can use a longer exposure time and create an effect of the waterfall in motion.

Scenes rarely have lighting evenly distributed from top to bottom. Graduated filters combine darkened and clear glass on the same filter. The dark part prevents excess light from entering the lens. This is commonly used for scenes where one half is a great deal brighter than the other, such as a sunny sky. If you set your camera exposure for a mid-day bright sky, the bottom half of the scene will be too dark. If you set the camera exposure based on the bottom half, the sky will be overexposed and often will come out white. The only way to overcome this in the field is to use the ND filter to darken the sky, yet leave the bottom half unaffected. Graduated ND filters have several options regarding the darkness of the lens and the transition between light and dark. Some have a very soft transition from dark to light while other having a hard immediate transition.

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