The Magic of Polarizing UV Filters
How polarizing filters can improve your Photos
If you’ve ever taken a photo through a glass panel before, you might have noticed that there’s a reflection in the photo. This reflection and glare prevent you from capturing the full details in the photo such as the trees in the background, making it less than ideal. Or perhaps you’ve taken a photo of a lake, but can’t seem to see the fishes underneath the water because of the reflection.
Don’t worry, there’s a simple solution out there that can help magically solve these reflective related issues. It’s called a polarizing filter.
Polarizing filters
What is a polarizing filter? A polarizing filter is basically a glass element that you place in front of your camera lens to cut off all the UV light. This minimizes the reflections from water or glass surfaces.
There are different filter thread sizes depending on the type of camera lens that you own from 58mm- 72mm. The thread sizes are conveniently located at edge of your camera lens or the back of the lens cap, so do take a look at them before any purchases.
How do you put it on?
The installation mechanism of the filter acts like a screw. You will want to take the polarizing filter and screw it in front of your lens until it is tight, which if you have visited our recent article on ND filters is installed exactly the same as way. While an ND filter cuts of light, a polarizing filter cuts off UV light.
Just Like Magic
There are different sources of light out in the day, be it from the sun or from reflected surfaces. Some of these light are in the ultra-violet range, which you will need an polarizing UV filters to help with.
These UV filters simply cuts down that range of light making it magically disappear as seen in the examples above. Not just that, you can also see that there is more contrast in certain colors in the After photo as that light range is removed from the footage.
This kind of filter is especially useful if you plan on taking a lot of photos of aquatic life as you need to be able to see what’s underwater.
As you look into the pond, you can also see all the details such as fissures and plant life below the water after the polarizing UV filter is applied. If you want such details to be captured, you would definitely want to get a polarizing filter.
Do also keep in mind that using a polarizing filter doesn’t remove the reflection entirely, especially through glass surfaces, but you are certainly able to capture a much nicer image as seen in the GIF captured from a video footage above.
If you would like to see the effects of the filter live, do check out my Youtube video below. If not read on!
Can i vary the effect on the Filter?
Yes, you can! There is dial located on the circumference of your polarizing filter. You can simply rotate the outer range of the filter to toggle between the minimum and maximum effect.
Downsides
No accessory is without cons, so let’s talk about them. Firstly, while using the maximum effect on the polarizing filter can help to reduce reflection, it also reduces the amount of light entering the lens, resulting in your overall image being darker. You might need to pump up your aperture or adjust your shutter speed or ISO to compensate for the polarizing filtration effect.
Secondly, although polarizing filters can remove certain glares, it changes the color temperature slightly. Using it together with an ND filter would also affect the adjustments of the 2 filters since they are both attached to the lens.
A Layer of protection
There is one more hidden advantage of having a filter, be it a polarizing UV or ND Filter. Filters acts as a layer of protection for lenses. Being a professional photographer, it pains me every time i have to fork out hundreds to thousands to get the lens element replaced.
Either due to knocks or drops, your camera is bound to experience some form of rough usage and having an additional layer of protection does help your pockets in the long run. Replacing a lens can start from as little as hundreds to as much as thousands of dollars depending on the model of your lens. Which brings us to one of the important considerations of getting one which is the price.
How much does it cost?
As there are many manufacturers, brands and quality of lenses out there, polarizing UV filters can cost as cheap as $30 to as much as $200 or more. The one that i am using the in video link and examples provided above is from Tyfoto which belongs to the lower range costing at around $35.
If you have already read this far and looking at the mentioned points above, i am sure you can agree that in majority of instances, it is a worthwhile investment.
Conclusion
If filming outdoors and landscape photography is your thing, it is a wise choice to get it as there are unwanted light everywhere. Filtering down UV light allows you to retain details in areas much needed especially if you are being paid to do so. It also functions as a layer of protection and will not be of any hassle due to it’s convenience and easily installation or removal.
If you find yourself indoors most of the time then maybe you might not need to get it as you will likely be able to manipulate the light sources in your home to get your desired light effect.
I hope this simple article have given you an additional option in terms of dealing with unwanted light in photography.
