Filters

In photography, filters are an important way to improve the photos you take and can give you more artistic choices. A filter is something that you put onto the front of your lens to change the way light comes into the camera, made of either glass or plastic.

There are many types of filters out there, but some are almost essential. The main filters every photographer should have in their bag are the circular polarizing filter (CPL), the ultraviolet filter (UV) Gand a selection of neutral density filters (ND).

CPL – This filter enhances the colors in a photo. The CPL filter can also make clouds more prominent and increase or reduce reflections in a photo. It does this by polarizing the light, so that light from only one direction enters the camera.

UV – These filters can reduce the haze on the horizon. They are also a great way to protect the front of the lens from getting scratched, as a scratched UV filter is cheaper to replace than a scratched lens.

ND – These are filters that let less light into the camera and come in different strengths. The weakest ND filter is the ND2, and the strongest is the ND1000. ND2, 4 and 8 are popular filters to use when there is too much light and you want to use a prime lens at a high aperture. ND2, 4 and 8 are the same as “stopping down your aperture” (decreasing the aperture size) one, two or three times, so going from f4 to f5.6 to f8. The much stronger filters like the ND400 or ND1000 are more artistic in their use and are for daytime long exposure shots where you will need a tripod.

Graduated filters

Any landscape photographer worth his salt will have these, so if you do not, you are not even in the game. These are filters that are half clear, half filtered and can therefore be used to balance light across the frame from foreground to the sky. The usual filter set here is to have the GND2 (Graduated neutral density), GND4 and GND8 filters. This means if the sky is two stops brighter than the land, then you would want to use the GND4 filter to bring the sky into balance with the rest of the scene.

Other filters

There are many filters out there; some will create starburst effects on lights at night, and others change the color of the scene to a vintage tobacco tone. It can be useful to have some sunset filters in the bag, as these will come in a range of warmer-toned colors, depending on the effect you want to produce.