There's a Dragon in my Art Room: polarizing filter

Monday, May 6, 2013

The polarizing filter, water, reflections, and a strange camera problem: Solved!!

Here's a few more pairs of polarizer photo pairs. Look in particular at the surface of the water. Big difference; it all depends on what you are trying to do!

Speaking of polarized lenses, yesterday I had a revelation that hopefully has solved a problem I've been having with my DSLR. I was sitting on a dock in the sunshine, reading and re-reading my instruction manual, and getting more and more frustrated with my inability to see the camera settings through the viewfinder, so I kept looking at the view screen instead, but it doesn't stay lit for long, and besides, how do you look at that while you are looking through the viewfinder?

And then, like a ton of bricks, the answer hit me. I wear polarized prescription sunglasses, pretty much always when I'm outside. I love them. BUT - here it is: You cannot see LED's with polarized lenses! All the information has been there in the viewfinder all along, but it has been invisible to me. I should have realized sooner. I'd already discovered the conflict with polarized lenses and LED's at the gas pump,when I couldn't read the payment information on the credit card reader. So today, I splurged, and ordered a new pair of sunglasses (not cheap, as they are progressive bifocals) without polarized lenses. When I get them, I'll keep them in my camera case. And I think my camera and I will get along a LOT better when I'm manually setting the aperture and shutter speed for creative control and can actually see my settings!

Has anyone else ever encountered such a goofy problem?

By the way, these photos were taken while kayaking in my remnants of a marsh. The lake level has been lowered due to milfoil treatment, and my marsh is so shallow it is dry in some places. It looks like a war zone! And it prevented me from getting close enough to photograph the turtles I saw, and caused me to get stuck several times trying. Hopefully in a couple of weeks the level will be close to back to normal.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

My Favorite Photo Gadget

When I bought my very first DSLR camera, right after the new year, I didn't want to spend a lot on extras until I got to know the camera. I just needed the basics: a lens hood, a lens cleaning kit, a good camera case, and my personal 'I-can't-live-without-it' gadget: a polarizing filter!!!

If you use an SLR or a DSLR and you don't know what a polarizer is, you are really missing out. Perhaps you own a pair of polarizing sunglasses. Think about how well they cut the glare! If you are like me, on a sunny day, you can't manage without those sunglasses! A polarizer is a rotating filter, with two pieces of polarized glass. When you rotate the filter, you can get the sky to darken, and eliminate reflections or glare on water. Rotated the other way, the photo will look pretty much as though you have not used a filter at all. The effect from rotating can be really dramatic.

The photos in this post are totally non-edited, straight from the camera. I have done no computer editing! The color differences in each pair are simply due to my rotation of my polarizer. Keep in mind, how well the polarizer works will depend on your relationship to the sun; it will work best when you and the sun are at right angles. Also, keep in mind that I foolishly was moderately frugal and while I thought at the time I was buying a decent polarizer, it won't be long before I'll be trading it in for a better quality filter. I am not satisfied.

By the way, as I said before, had I shot these photos without the polarizer, the results would pretty much look like the photos on the right in each pair (or the bottom photo in the pair above). The photos on the left were created by rotating the filter to darken and bring out the richness in the sky. For the most part, I prefer the photos on the left, which, by darkening the sky, made the colors of the newly budded trees lighter and more vibrant. You can see what the polarizer did to the water in some of these photos, too. Which do you prefer? Do you use a polarizer with your camera?