Australian_Photography_-_March_2016_

46 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

ABOVE
Mapia Atoll. West
Papua. Using
a polariser cuts
reflections and
lets the reef show
through the water.
Canon EOS 5D
Mk III, 16-35mm
f2.8L lens
@16 mm, 1/125s
@ f/8, ISO 100.

RIGHT
A polarising filter
limits the passage
of light to a
single waveform
orientation.

AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY MARCH 2016

I rarely use ND Grads, but I do find them essential for two

things. One, time lapse images and two, video.

Whilst you can shoot time lapses in raw and control sky

brightness using local adjustments in a raw processor, it is terribly

time consuming. I shoot JPEGs and use a two-stop ND Grad to

darken the sky a bit. For most video the same applies and, like solid

NDs, Grad NDs are a fixture in the gadget bag of all videographers.

Polarisers

Light ref lecting off shiny surfaces such as glass or water

becomes ‘polarised’ which means the random vector

oscillations of the wave-properties of light become limited to

a single plane. A polarising filter blocks polarised light when it’s

oriented at 90 degrees to the plane of oscillation. In addition to

ref lections, light passing through the atmosphere can also become

polarised, thus the effect of polarising filters on blue skies which

adds contrast and emphases white clouds (which makes them quite

effective at making skies look more dramatic).

Cutting the polarised ref lections off the water’s surface makes

it look more translucent, excellent for photos of tropical beaches

with vividly blue clear water lapping over the white sand.

Polarisers are almost always round screw in filters because they

need to be rotated to get the best effect. Looking through the

camera you turn the filter until you can see the image change.

You don’t need to always use the maximum effect either – at high

altitudes the sky is already a very strong blue and polarising it

further can be a case of ‘over-egging the pudding’.

Because polarisers work to physically reduce ref lected light

there is no post-processing ‘analogy’ like there is for colour

corrections or graduated filters. You cannot, for example, replicate

in Photoshop the effect of removing the shine from leaves in a

rainforest and thus adding to the sense of lushness. It’s for this

reason that I always carry a polariser – sometimes it’s just the right

tool for the job and nothing else will do.