 Michelle Ross |
Effect of Polarizing Filter I just got a circular polarizer filter for my SLR camera lens and took a roll of pictures with it ... I thought there was supposed to be a noticeable difference in the sky but noticed very little IF any. What did I do wrong???
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Kristen |
You may try messing with the exposure a little bit. I have a circular polarizer, and I read the exposure guide that came with it and then adjusted how I took the pictures. That seemed to help.
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George F. Howard |
If you are at right angles to the sun, you should be able to see the difference through the viewfinder as you turn the filter. A clear sky will darken, and the color of leaves on trees will become more saturated.
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Michelle Ross |
For most of them, the sun was behind me and I was shooting with the sky just in the background. I tried to turn the filter as I looked through the viewfinder and just didn't see any difference ... but it isn't a graduated filter. I took some sunset ones tonight, so we'll see how they look. However, I've always had good luck with sunsets even before I used a polarizer.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
The greatest effect for polarizers on the sky is with the sun at 90 degrees to you. The closer you get to parallel, the less effect it makes. And that's 90 degrees to the side of you. 90 degrees high noon doesn't have that much of an effect as when it's to the side of you. But with winter, the sun is lower in the sky, so high noon will still get a noticeable polarizer look.
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John P. Sandstedt |
Hold your hand in the shape of a pistol, with thumb up and index finger as barrel. Point index finger at the sun and move your hand allowing your thumb to scribe an imaginary arc. That's the line where the greatest polarizing effect can be achieved. If the sun is to your back when using the filter, you'll get essentially no impact beyond light reduction (due to the density of the filter.) Be careful if you use wide-angle lenses; watch for changes in the intensity of the blue sky at the periphery of the viewfinder. Watch for vignetting (small dark corners in the viewfinder) when you use telephoto lenses.
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Scott Pedersen |
The sun needs to be to your side to get any effect from a polorizer. In front or behind you not going to see any differnce. You rotate the ring on it to get the effect you want be careful you don't get it too bluish. A polorizer slows you down two stops at least and thats kind of why its recomened to take it off if not in use. A polorizer works well for shooting through a window so you can use it for that as well as outdoors.
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John Pickard |
If you were shooting print film, the cause may be that the lab has "corrected" the polarizing out. When shooting print film with a polarizer, you should tell the lab that you did so they don't over correct. If you shoot slide film the effect of the polarizer is very noticable because what you shoot is what you get. One of the reasons why correct exposure is so important with slide film. John Pickard
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