The Canon Magazine 57
POLARIZING FILTERS
PROJECT 4
VIDEO ALSO ONLINE
http://bit.ly/pp_159_4HOW TO USE A CIRCULAR POLARIZING FILTER
Take your landscape shots to the next level by learning to use a powerful CPL filter
USE APPS TO
PLAN AHEAD
Photography apps are
fantastic tools that can
be a huge help when
you’re out on a shoot.
When it comes to forward
planning your landscape
shoots and finding the
best light you could
do far worse than with
The Photographer’s
Ephemeris (£2.69 on
Android’s Google Play
store and £9.99 on
Apple’s App Store). It
allows you to drop a pin
on a precise location to
see the angle of light at
different times of the day.
This is really handy when
working with polarizering
filters as you’ll want
to work at 90º to the
incoming light from the
sun for the best results.01 GET THE RIGHT FILTER FOR YOUR LENS
You’ll want to make sure you get one that fits the filter
thread of your lens, this will be stated on the lens
barrel or on the lens cap. You could buy a polarizer
to fit your largest lens and then use cheap step-down
rings to use it with your other lenses and save money.03 AVOID WIDE ANGLES
Polarizers only effectively work on a small section of
the sky so it’s best to use standard, non-wide lenses
or telephoto zooms. Try not to go wider than 28mm
on a full-frame or 18mm on an APS-C camera to avoid
patchy dark areas appearing in your sky – see above.05 REFLECTIONS BE-GONE
Polarizing filters aren’t just great for boosting blue
skies, they also make it possible to subdue, or remove,
the reflections in your shot. Be sure to try them if
there is water or glass in your composition.02 SHOOT AT 90º TO THE SUN
Polarizing filters affect blue skies greatly but only
when you compose at right-angles to the sun. The
easiest way to work this out is point your index finger
towards the sun and stick your thumb out. You’ll get
a strong polarization effect where your thumb points.04 FINE-TUNE THE FILTER RING
Frame up your scene to achieve the composition you
want then attach the circular polarizer to your lens’s
front filter ring. Now you can twist the moveable ring
on your polarizer to change the polarizing effect and
you’ll see it on the LCD or through the viewfinder.06 BOOST YOUR EXPOSURE TO COMPENSATE
You’ll usually experience a loss of about two stops of
light when the polarizer is set to max effect. If your
shots are coming out too dark as a result you can add
a stop or two of positive exposure compensation.WITHOUT CPL WITH CPL
VIEW^ TH
E^ VIDEO