I'm going to Colorado and Utah next week and planing to take several dozens of landscape shots.
Which filters should I buy for my Olympus to get blue sky and rich colors!
I'm going to Colorado and Utah next week and planing to take several dozens of landscape shots.
Which filters should I buy for my Olympus to get blue sky and rich colors!
Get a circular polarizer. Especially for Utah - wow. I was there last month, and loved it. The polarizer did serious miracles to my work. This is what a C-PL filter does to your shots.
Don't waste your money on a circular polarizer. Your camera has a contrast-based autofocus, which means that a linear polarizer will do the trick. They're much cheaper.
That's true, but the BEST filters are still circular (the ones with multi-coating, etc.), as they don't make much linear filters.
Originally posted by jimmythefish:
Don't waste your money on a circular polarizer. Your camera has a contrast-based autofocus, which means that a linear polarizer will do the trick. They're much cheaper.
1. Polarizer (circular) with multi-coating. The best filter you can afford, the better. All filters will degrade image quality somewhat, but you get the effects it produces. But be careful when using it -- as with a wide angle lens, you can actually darken ONE end of the photograph but the other end is a lot less blue, leaving an uneven effect. Also, some of the natural scenes (such as glitter you can capture in forests) can DISSAPPEAR because the filter will remove the light.
2. Neutral Density filters (3-stop ND's) for waterfall shots.
3. UV/Haze - you probably don't need this. In fact, the less filter you use the better, only use filters when you NEED it. FOr example if you were taking shots at early or late light, you probably don't need any.
Don't waste your money on a circular polarizer. Your camera has a contrast-based autofocus, which means that a linear polarizer will do the trick. They're much cheaper.
1) C-PL filters have better coating
2) C-PL filters are often of better quality
3) C-PL filters are only 10 % more expensive or so
4) C-PL filters work on ALL cameras - in case of a later upgrace, s/he can just get a few stepping rings and keep using h(i/e)r old filters.
How much did you turn the polarizer once it was screwed onto the lense?
With the reflection shot you can test whether it works or not by looking at the effect on the water. You should be able to see a change in the amount of reflection as you turn the outer ring of the polarizer. At one extreme (in shallow water) you will be able to see everything on the bottom very clearly with little or no visible reflection. At the other extreme you won't be able to see anything but reflection.
For best results with a circular polarizer you need to dial-in the effect. With film cameras I had little problems doing this through the lens--you see the changes as you rotated the filter. However, with my digital the effect is too subtle to be readily noticed on either the LCD (especially in bright sunlight!) or through the viewfinder.
The only solution is setup and execute a series of shots with the polarizer in place, making notations about what your doing with it for each shot. I used the small white marker that came on my polarizer as the reference point, and took a pic at each setting... one with the mark in the 12 oclock position, another at the 2 oclock position, and on around the dial in 2 hour increments. (I left the exposure up the camera, using Aperture Priority mode.) Then I uploaded the pics to see where the effect was greatest. Now I know how to use my polarizer properly on my digital.
Note that the effect covers only one half the circle before it repeats. For instance, once you turn the filter 180 degrees from where the effect is greatest, it should be the same. Also, I found that the most intense polarization on my filter was NOT with the white marker straight up or down, as you might think, though it was close. The best effect (with my filter anyways) was with the white marker set to the 11 oclock or the 5 oclock positions, and the least intense (virtually nonexistent... as if no filter was being used) at the 2 oclock and 8 oclock positions.
Be sure and shoot a scene that will allow you to gauge the effect clearly. Polarization is strongest at a 90 degree angle to the sun, which is easy enough to estimate, but be sure and include some reflections, if you can, as they can be a better indicator than the blueness of the sky.
The sky are darker, the contrast are hugely enhanced. I don't have an example of when the photo was taken without the filter, but the scene without the filter would have a lot more reflections from the rock.
Other usage examples includes removal of reflection from leaves on trees, allow you to see through a window, allow you to see through the pond and into the water, removal of reflection from snow, etc.
Also, if you're driving, you're probably using a sunglasses -- that's most likely polarized. You must see the difference, right? THat's what a polarizer does. Again it's not needed in every situation, certainly not needed in cloudy days, nor is it necessary during sunset and sunrise hours.
I bought couple of filters and results are disappointing.
Did you try rotating the filter at all and looking at the changes ?
Also, for the sky, the polarising effect is most pronounced about 90 degrees from the sun, although again, you do need to rotate the filter to see the changes.
For example, in your lake shots below, as you rotate the polariser, you would see the water reflections strengthen and disappear, along with the sky colour changing in intensity. Not sure if your camera has a live preview or not.
But it isn't enough to just put a CPL on the camera, you have to rotate the lens and also point it at the right kind of things...
