If you're a landscape photographer or travel photographer, and you want more
control over how your photos look, you'll want something called a polarizing filter.
And if you already have one, you still need to know how to use your polarizing filter and
when it has the biggest impact on your photos. Now, this is a filter that rotates once it's
on your lens. So, it screws in, and then the front part rotates independently of the back.
And, as you can tell, it's kind of a dark filter. No matter how you rotate it, it'll cut down on at
least a stop of light, and usually more. But that's not the point of a polarizer;
it's more of a side effect. The reason that you use a polarizer is to do things like this.
To be more specific, a polarizer cuts down on most reflections in a photo. It also cuts
down on scattered light in the sky and haze in the distance. Now, there's some subjects
out there where you put a polarizing filter on your lens but you can't tell any difference in
how the photo looks, and then other scenes have a huge, night-and-day difference.
One thing that polarizers really impact is the sky, which grows much darker with a polarizer,
making clouds really pop out. It also has a huge effect on water, where it can practically
eliminate reflections. And if you're shooting in a forest environment, your polarizer can
reduce a lot of the glare off of foliage. Another obvious effect is glass, and polarizers get rid
of reflections there very easily. And then there's a bunch of smaller things that polarizers affect,
like rainbows, LCD monitors, and really any reflection that isn't bouncing off of metal.
Almost all of this is impossible to replicate in post-production without
just a massive effort. I mean, darkening the sky, sure. But removing so much glare from
water that you can see beneath the surface? You *need* a polarizing filter for that.
Now, you'll sometimes hear filters like this referred to as "circular polarizers."
And it doesn't have to do with the shape of the filter. For example,
this is also technically a circular polarizer. The reason is, there's two types of polarizers:
circular and linear. Now, you'll almost always hear people recommend circular,
and that's for a couple of reasons. First, there's just a bigger selection of high quality circular
polarizers on the market today. Linear polarizers can also mess with the metering system on DSLRs,
and occasionally autofocus as well. It's no problem -- almost any polarizer you
find today is going to be circular -- but I do recommend making sure before you buy.
So, if a polarizer has got all these nice effects on so many subjects,
when should you *not* use one? Well, the big downside of polarizers is that they cut down
on your light. When you're shooting handheld in dark conditions, a polarizer is probably
not a good idea. The same is true really in most cases where you're at a high ISO. But if you're
shooting from a tripod at base ISO, you can leave a polarizing filter on your lens much more often,
although there are some exceptions. For one, if you have a lower quality polarizing filter,
or you don't keep it completely clean, you don't really want to be pointing it
at the sun. You could introduce more flare in your photo and decrease contrast as well.
On top of that, polarizers are not just "set it and forget it" kind of filters. This is something
that really confused me when I started using them. I was annoyed that my polarizer's maximum and
minimum settings weren't marked on the filter. And the reason is, there actually *isn't* a maximum
or minimum. The best demonstration I can do is to show you this filter case on top of a wooden
desk. As you can see, when I rotate the filter to minimize reflection on the desk, the filter case
is reflecting quite strongly. And when I rotate the polarizer to get rid of that reflection, the
desk now has it again. So, in short, if you use a polarizer, you pretty much should be adjusting
it -- or at least paying attention to it -- every time that you change subjects. Even if you
physically rotate one direction or another, you may need to change the polarizer to compensate.
Now, another reason to be careful with your polarizer is that the maximum amount isn't
always desirable. In some cases, the sky turns way too dark when the polarizer is rotated too
far. Other times, you might get rid of so much reflection on the water that you can't
even tell it's water any more. And those last points are not reasons to avoid a polarizer,
necessarily, but just to use yours carefully.
Going along with that, polarizers do not always work well with ultra-wide lenses,
especially if there's a lot of blue sky in your photo. If you use a polarizer under
these conditions, you could get a really dark band through the sky that looks super uneven.
Polarizers don't affect every part of the sky equally. They're strongest
at 90 degrees from the sun. In other words, point at the sun,
stick up your thumb 90 degrees, and then rotate your hand. Anywhere in the
sky that intersects with your thumb will be the most susceptible to polarization.
So, let's recap. Polarizers are awesome at decreasing glare in your photo,
minimizing distractions, and improving the colors and contrast in a lot of scenes. But you do need
to use them carefully. The best filter rotation for one scene might not be the best rotation for
another. And if you use too wide of a lens, or you make a wide angle panorama, you need to be
careful that the sky doesn't look uneven. And I also don't usually recommend a polarizer if
you're shooting in low-light conditions, because they darken every photo you take.
Now I'll end with one final tip. As a photographer, I recommend buying
sunglasses that are not polarized. And this is true whether or not you're actually
shooting with a polarizer. Specifically, if you're looking at your camera's rear screen,
and you rotate it to take some vertical photos, the LCD will either turn really dark or start
getting some strange colors. And the viewfinders in most cameras also have some color shift if
you look at them with polarized lenses. Now, none of this will affect your photo quality,
but it will impact your shooting experience. And on that note, thank you for watching and
subscribing to Photography Life! I'm Spencer Cox. Until next time.