Add punch with filtration
Despite advances in software, filters remain an essential tool for landscape photography.
There are some filter effects that are difficult or even impossible to replicate in postproduction: for example, removing glare from non-metallic surfaces with a polarising filter or extending exposure length with a neutral density filter.
By removing glare, a polariser restores natural colour saturation and improves contrast; the resulting images have more ‘punch’. The effect is especially pronounced on foliage and blue skies, making it an essential filter for summer landscape photography. They are simple to use: polarisers have a rotating front element and as you turn it, you will see reflections and glare come and go, and blue skies darken and lighten. Simply rotate the filter while looking through the viewfinder until you see the effect you like. The effect can be very seductive and it is easy to over-polarise a scene, so that skies look unnaturally dark.
Neutral density filters reduce the amount of light coming through the lens, allowing you to artificially extend exposure times. Although most known for creating misty-looking water, this is not their only use: they can create interesting effects with moving clouds and can also be used to blur the movement of crops.
When it comes to using filters, there are basically two types – screw-in filters and slot-in, system filters. Although the former are often cheaper, they have the disadvantage that you are likely to encounter vignetting if you stack two or more filters together and if you have lenses with different sized filter threads, you’ll need duplicate filters. In addition to this, using a polariser in combination with other filters – especially graduated filters – is awkward. System filters solve all of these problems – they are designed to be stacked without resulting in vignetting, polarisers are easy to operate and rather than having to duplicate filters of different sizes, you just need to get an adaptor ring for each lens.