Get creative - Fun with filters!

One of the best creative additions you can use with your landscape photography, after getting a good wide angle lens, is a range of filters. If you want to get more colour and drama into your skies, or achieve unusual striking effects, filters will open a whole world of possibilities.

 

There are hundreds of filter effects available for digital and traditional photography. The only limit (apart from the cost) is your imagination! I'll briefly run through the most commonly used filter types and their effects:

Polarising filter

This is probably the most used filter in my bag and will have the biggest impact on your shots. These filters work like polaroid sunglasses, filtering out a section of light from the spectrum and the effects are the same. Skies really pop with a polarising filter fitted and have much more colour with far greater depth to the cloud formations. Also, you can reduce reflections on water.

Once fitted the filters are used by rotating them on the end of the lens until you get the effect you desire. They filter light a bit like a venetian blind, so by spinning the filter round they will filter more or less light, and your image effect will alter significantly. If you only buy one filter - this is the one. There are linear and circular polariser versions available so I'd advise you go for the circular type.

Neutral Density filters

These are designed to cut down the light that enters your camera aperture without adding a colour cast to your image. Again, like sunglasses, they allow certain effects in full light and are available at various strengths as either graduated or full tint versions.

These are used for two main reasons. By adding an ND graduation filter, you can balance your exposures so the skies are not blown out and the foreground too dark. They also add more definition to your skies, although there's no colour boost.

By adding a solid tint ND filter, you can cut down the light entering the lens, and lengthen your exposure time without waiting for less light. This offers all sorts of creative options with moving subjects, typically moving water and seas, or fast moving clouds, giving that ghostly blurred look that's currently fashionable.

UV filters

I've read a lot of conflicting advice on the use of these. Many people advocate adding one on every lens you have as a lens front protector. I bought one and never use it - the effect on your images are negligible and the security offered is minor.

Coloured filters

There are endless coloured filters available to allow you to add a colour effect to your images. I have a couple buy I tend not to use them as I'm not a fan of the unrealistic effects. Probably the most useful would be a tobacco gradient that you can use for sunsets.

Infra Red filters

These work by cutting out the visible and UV portions of white light just allowing the Infra red wavelengths in and can create some beautiful monotone and false colour effects. Green plants appear bright white while the skies go black and really throw out the clouds.

Effects filters

There are a massive range of effects filters available: Star burst filters, soft focus, lens flare, the choice is vast, Many are more suited to other subjects that landscapes but are a great experimental aid.



There are two main routes do go, when considering a filter for your lens:

Screw in filters

 

 

 

 

 

These are round filters that, as the name implies, attach to your lens front by the screw thread. They are easy to use, simple to fit and probably the easiest way to start using filters with your camera.
There are a couple of down sides with screw in filters however. If you buy any graduated Neutral density (more about these later) or coloured filters, the horizon line where the graduation ends will typically be in the middle of the filter - so, as you'll need to place this on the horizon line - it will impact badly on composition. I bought a few and found them severely limiting.

Also you're pretty much  constrained to using one filter at a time, so using a polariser in combination with an ND grad is not an option.

I have however used a screw in polariser quite extensively and for me this has been the most useful screw in filter for shooting outside, hand held - unobtrusive and easy to dial in.

Finally, not all lenses have the same diameter across the front of the casing, so you will end up buying filters for each lens you need to use - not a big deal, but worth remembering.

Slide in filter systems

 

 

These are much better solutions for landscape filter use, and once you get the hang of using them, can offer endless options to fine tune your final image. Typically, the system will use an  adapter ring screwed to the lens front, that carries the slot in filter holder. Then, the rectangular resin filters slot into the holder guides and can be rotated, or moved up and down to suit.

I find this to be a far more flexible system, allowing more than one filter to be used at any angle or position - the sky's the limit. The only down side here is the systems do look daunting to the beginner at first and you will end up hauling about more gear. You can buy all the individual adapter plates to suit all common lens sizes, so switching the filters to another lens is cheap and easy - often, you can buy the holder systems with a full range of adapter plates.

To finish - you can get all the filters above at wildly varying prices - just look on ebay and you'll see that a single filter can vary in price from £1 to £50 for what appears to be the same thing essentially. The market is flooded with cheap Chinese filters and while these offer the option to experiment without breaking the bank, the quality can't be guaranteed. you can however, buy a whole bunch of cheap filters and experiment with them without costing the earth - find what you like and what works for you, then buy better quality later as you improve.

If image quality is critical, I'd always advise buying from a respected well known manufacturer, so for screw in filters, you can't go far wrong with Hoya and for slide in systems Cokin and Lee's filters are both excellent quality with Lee's having the reputation for pro quality (and higher price).

For the sake of budget, I've gone with a Cokin P filter system and I'll be posting a couple more entries about my experience with this going forward.

Look out for a couple of entries over the Christmas break - I'll be making a few trips out and I have some projects lined up indoors. Hope you enjoy the holidays and get some great festive shots!

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