Hoya Circular Polarizing Filter

One way to control an image’s appearance as well as quality is to incorporate filters in one’s photography. Camera filters enable a photographer to achieve several imaging effects from correcting light to adding a soft focus to diffusing color.

With the use of camera filters, the photographer is able to literally bend light in order to alter or correct the image. Examples of lens filters are haze filters which effectively reduces blue light and skylight filters which provide a little warming to photographs taken outdoors. However, for the outdoor photographer, one of the most essential camera filters that must be in their kits is the circular polarizing filter.

This type of filter is a type of filter that primarily removes unwanted reflections from different non-metallic objects such as glass and water. These types of filters also enhance the colors in the sense that they saturate colors and make them appear clearer. They also improve the overall contrast of the colors with each other. This type of effect makes skies bluer and increases the contrast that they have with the white clouds.

Hoya is one of the biggest and best names in optical filters. They have introduced a thinner version of their circular polarizer which has a slimmer mount which makes it exceptionally light and compact.

The filter has a rotating front element that is able to screw onto the lens of your camera in order to reduce the glare that reflective surfaces give off. The rotating front element is used to manage the strength of polarization that the filter provides.

If the filter is turned one end, it will reveal what you would normally see if the filter was not attached to it. This end is used to essentially give you the same view you would see if it was not attached so as not to increase the contrast of photographs you want to maintain.

When the polarizer is turned to about 90 degrees, most often the reflections that you see through the viewfinder will disappear. This is quite advantageous when shooting through glass panes where you would normally see what is reflected by the glass instead of seeing what’s behind it. This also applies to photographs where water is present.

Try taking a photograph of a fish in a pond without a polarizer and then try taking a picture of the same subject with a polarizer on. You’ll notice the difference because you would be able to see the fish in the latter photograph with a circular polarizer on.

The visible reflections of trees and the sky are all cut out by the circular polarizer and they also have a unique dramatic effect on blue skies which give the effect of highly saturated colors. These types of filters give the exceptionally blue skies that one would see in travel brochures. It is through companies like Hoya that these types of filter exist. Without them, our outdoor pictures would be dull, and lack the necessary impact that they would have.

Comments