Circular Polarizer

What Is a Circular Polarizer When Talking About Photography? A circular polarizer is kind of filter which can dramatically effect the light entering a camera’s lens. circular polarizers are able to selectively absorb or pass certain wavelengths of circularly polarized light, reducing reflections and glare from non metallic objects such as water or the sky. The correct use of a circular polarizer for can for example transform the surface of water from a seemingly impenetrable reflective barrier to a nearly entirely translucent window into the underwater world. Circular polarizers are widely used in wildlife and landscape photography where the elimination …

Read more

Filter Size

What Does Filter Size Mean In Photography? In photography filter size Refers to the inner diameter of the front of the lens, more specifically the threads into which a filter is screwed to attach it to the lens. Knowing the the filter size required for your lenses is extremely important as it will allow you to make sure you purchase the correct equipment, and also insure you can pack correctly for any photography outings you have planned. The filter size of a lens is always printed on the end of the lens barrel so that at a glance you can …

Read more

ND

What Does ND Stand for in Photography? ND stands for neutral density and is used to describe a type of photographic filter that diminishes the amount of light transmission through a lens.  A neutral density filter is designed to be as close to color-neutral as possible, so the only effect that it should have is to cut down the amount of light that is hitting your camera’s sensor or film. You might want to do this in order be able to use a wider aperture on a sunny day, to maintain a shallow depth of field, or you might do …

Read more

Neutral Density Filter

What Is a Neutral Density Filter in Photography? A filter used in front of the lens that absorbs all visible wavelengths and significantly reduces the amount of light that reaches the sensor. Neutral density filters are particularly useful in situations where excess ambient light does not allow you to use the shutter speed and aperture you require to achieve a desired photographic effect. One example would be photographing daytime seascapes where you wish to use a long exposure time to allow blurring of the water to create a sense of dynamic movement.   F-Stop Reduction Optical Density Filter Factor % …

Read more

Polarizing Filter

What Is a Polarizing Filter and How Is It Used When Taking Photographs? When talking about photography a polarizing filter is a kind of filter which is used to absorb polarized light as it enters a lens. Light reflected of certain surfaces and a portion of the light coming from the sky is ‘polarized light’, a polarizing filter can absorb this light and dramatically reduce the appearance of reflections, or darken the sky within a photograph. Polarizing filters are usually attached to the filter threads on the end of a lens and have a rotating layer which is adjusted to control …

Read more

Transmittance

What Does Transmittance Mean in Photography? Transmittance is usually talked about in relation to filters that go onto a lens.  When used in this context,it is the amount of light that is allowed to pass through the filter, and is usually represented as a percentage.  For example, a filter with a 50% transmittance will let 50% of the light through it into the lens and camera.  Photographers are usually concerned about transmittance when they are using neutral density filters.  ND filters deliberately cut down the amount of light entering a lens so that a photographer can control the shutter speed, …

Read more

Yellow Filter

What Is a Yellow Filter and What Does It do in Photography? A Yellow filter absorbs all coloured light except yellow. It is the most-popular colored filter used with black and white film. Because a yellow filter absorbs blue, it provides significantly greater contrast between blue and yellow or white subjects. The classic example of the use of a yellow filter is when shooting black and white scenes which include portions of a cloud filled sky. Use of a yellow filter in this situation significantly darkens the blue portions of the sky, whilst allowing the clouds to remain bright and …

Read more