Use of filters suggested or not for amatuers ?

yogi_k · Apr 19, 2011

Hey folks,

I have recently starting out with digital photography and still learning the knots. I am going on a trip to a place having beautiful landscapes.
I have only used a UV filter till now that too just for protecting my lens.

I have been reading a lot lately about various other filters too like the polarizers, Neutral Density filters, Graduated Neutral Density filters etc.
However i appreciate the enhancement that they bring to the shots am concerned would i be able to make full use of them at this stage. I want to buy a GND filter for the landscape shots but as am still learning the proper exposure techniques, using a Graduated Neutral Density filter would be great but am afraid i might mix it up.

Or am i thinking too much, is it easy to use for starters or does it need experience to be good at it??

Cheers,
Yogi

kundalini · Apr 19, 2011

If you have an understanding of metering and proper exposure, it's not a big deal. You might find this an interesting read on filters.

Filters by Thom Hogan

shufti · Apr 19, 2011

There's only one way to 'get good'. Once you know you got all your shots (as you would without filters), shoot a load more using them and experiment.

Vinny · Apr 19, 2011

Digital photography is a great way to learn and experiment - once you have the camera and lens it costs nothing to take an exposure. Made a mistake or don't like it, you can delete it.

Polarizers are great, they take out non mettalic reflections and make a sky "pop out" if the sun is in the correct position. ND filters would give you a correct exposure since the lighting in the whole scene would be lowered by it but I'm not sure how useful it would be unless you're trying to capture movement or smooth out water. GND seem to be another useful filter, I don't own one as of yet but being able to control a portion of the image so that the whole scene comes out correct is very useful.

Jarrod268 · Apr 19, 2011

I've been shooting a lot with filters recently.

Nd grad is needed if you want to keep the foreground exposed without blowing out the sky. I think 2 or 3 stop is best.

Don't get circular grad filters.

A solidND... Only using mine to smooth water.

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yogi_k · Apr 19, 2011

Thanks for the reply's folks,

@Kundalini: yeah i do sure have a hang of exposure, but love to play with it.
@Vinny : I think i would go for a GND or a ND fliter since the place i am visiting has a lot of picturesque places.

Thanks guys for helping me take a decision on this, was a lil apprehensive about it but now i am definitely getting my hands on a few filters.

Cheers,
Yogi

KmH · Apr 19, 2011

kundalini said:
If you have an understanding of metering and proper exposure, it's not a big deal. You might find this an interesting read on filters.

Filters by Thom Hogan

Just be aware Thom is discussing filters relative to shooting film, not digital, in that article.

kundalini · Apr 19, 2011

KmH said:
Just be aware Thom is discussing filters relative to shooting film, not digital, in that article.

There is some discussion that is geared toward film, but I garnered the more glaring issues that some people seldom, particularly newbies, take into account.....

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Thom's Maxim #18: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Know what you want to change and why.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Thom's Maxim #19: Don't put extra glass or plastic in front of your expensive, well designed glass unless you need to.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Thom's Maxim #20: Good filters are expensive.[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Derrel · Apr 19, 2011

Some filter effects are impossible to replicate in post-processing. Polarizing filters for example, can eliminate reflections that are otherwise contributing huge amounts of glare to images on large objects such as lake surfaces, rivers, or expanses of greenery. At times, it's very beneficial to eliminate glare on surfaces, and it simply cannot be done any other way. Graduated Neutral Density filters are used by most advanced landscape photographers, because they work,and they work well if one understands how to use them. Solid neutral density filters are making sort of a comeback these days; the newer 10- and 11-stop ones are allowing people to make very long time exposures, to change the temporal quality of their photos, which is mostly a response to the new ISO 200 baseline cameras we have these days.