A Polarizer might be the most important filter you can use when you shoot
outdoors. A polarizer is almost like sunglasses for your lenses. There are two
types of polarizer, circular, and linear. As a general rule of thumb, unless you
have an older, manual focus camera, you want a circular polarizer. You can
check your camera’s manual to see what type of polarizer you should use, but if
there is no information, just get a circular polarizer, as it will work with all camera
types. Also, buy a quality polarizer, made by a well known manufacturer. A
cheap polarizer can be worse than using no polarizer at all.
Have you ever noticed that professional photos taken outdoors seem to have the
most incredible, true to life color? Well one trick that they use to achieve that is a
polarizer. The polarizer helps to remove reflections from things like glass, water,
and metal, and also helps enrich colors outdoors. Even on overcast days, the
polarizer will help to saturate the colors in the scene. Reflections happen.
Reflective surfaces are not limited to water, glass, metal, and objects like that,
but even wet leaves and rocks, flowers, and haze can cause a reflection. If you
eliminate that reflection, by using a polarizer, your colors will really “pop” in your
photos. If you have worn a pair of polarized sunglasses, you have probably
noticed this effect already with your own eyes! Now you will notice that
polarizers, unlike most filters, have a rotating ring so you can adjust them. Look
through the viewfinder or at the LCD display and adjust the filter to your taste.
Trust your own eyes on this one! If you are shooting in low light, use a tripod, as
a polarizer will eat up some of the available light.
That’s really all there is to it!