Polarisers

Was thinking today as I was wearing my sunglasses ...Is it ok to use circular polarisers all the time when doing landscapes on sunny days just to help the sky and greens? Just like my sunglasses, they just make everything look better, especially the sky

Be cautious when using a Wide Angle Lens and there is a lot of sky across the shot, you'll likely get a range of gradation in the blue.

 

WW

If you like the look of everything as seen through sunglasses. Personally, for many scenes there is nothing guaranteed to make scenes look as unnatural as polarizers used as you suggest, but of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Like most effects, use them sparingly and in moderation is my suggestion.

As said it works pretty well for telephoto to normal length lenses. For wide angle, you'd almost always have better results with a graduated ND filter.

 

It's not only that a polarizer darkens the sky at certain angles, but it also eliminates a lot of reflection off other objects, resulting in an overall much more saturated image.

 

The effect does not need to be turned up to "eleven" ..

Edited July 25, 2020 by JDMvW

Hmm. One image is way overexposed and full of false colors. Even a polarizer cannot usually change a white wall into a pink one.

Purely out of lockdown boredom, I decided to see which gave darker skies in B&W; a polariser, or a yellow, or an orange filter (a Y2 K and an Orange G filter were all I had to hand).

Film was T-Max 100.

 

IMO the x2 yellow filter gives such a weak effect that it's hardly worth bothering with. While the x3 Orange O(G) filter is about neck-and-neck with the circular polariser. The polariser has about the same exposure factor as the orange filter too.

 

Unfortunately the first day with a nice blue sky was also quite windy, and the clouds were scudding by really fast. By the time I'd unscrewed one filter and fitted another, the cloud formation had shifted considerably. This makes it a bit tricky to decide which has the darker sky. However, poking about on the scans with the eyedropper tool reveals that there's at most a one digital level difference between them. In short, identical for all practical purposes.

 

The area of sky chosen was directly opposite the sun. I'm not sure if other directions would yield a different result.

One image is way overexposed and full of false colors.

 

True, but some of the whiteness is due to reflection.

 

Picky, picky. Look at the reflection on the water and so on...

As said it works pretty well for telephoto to normal length lenses. For wide angle, you'd almost always have better results with a graduated ND filter.

 

It's not only that a polarizer darkens the sky at certain angles, but it also eliminates a lot of reflection off other objects, resulting in an overall much more saturated image.

 

The effect does not need to be turned up to "eleven" ..

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I have used ND's before and they can be very useful. I had to use one for a shoot for work that involved shooting other buildings from the roof of my building at dusk. The ND did a good job and being able to get enough exposure for the low areas under the horizon and not have a blown out sky.

The ND did a good job and being able to get enough exposure for the low areas under the horizon and not have a blown out sky.

Or just shoot RAW on any decent digital camera, or take two exposures to combine in post using the layers 'lighten only' option.

No obvious straight grad line, and much more control over the blend.

Or just shoot RAW on any decent digital camera, or take two exposures to combine in post using the layers 'lighten only' option.

No obvious straight grad line, and much more control over the blend.

 

I think it was pretty easy using the filter on an X-Pro2, a pretty good camera. I still tend to generally believe the more you can do "in camera" the less needed in processing and a more natural look, if that's what you're looking for.

I don't find polarisers are in the fit & forget category. The degree of rotation often has to be altered to get the best for each shot, sometimes BOOSTING reflections rather than reducing them.

As above they're troublesome on wide lenses, and subtly is often needed in their use.

Personally I often use IR when I want to darken skies (it can pick out clouds you didn't realise were there), but I guess that gives an even more unnatural look, with complete lack of subtly! :rolleyes:

I always carry a polarizer but use it sparingly. When I use it I still take a few shots without it in case I don't like the results. Don't feel you have to maximize the effect either. Sometimes less is better.

Interesting. Mr. JDMvW 's building in his photo is pink. Not using a polarizer makes it appear white. Note the small fence in front of the building is white in both photos. A polarizer reduces light reflections off of objects and brings out more of the color.

 

It's cos the non polarized shot is way overexposed

Polarizing a cerulean sky with an ultra wide angle lens is futile due to unevenness and as well makes the sky too dark unless that is the artistic goal.

You can use a polarizer on a stream beds to turn the rocks dark chocolate or to knock down reflections and glare and to saturate colors.

Its nice to have polarizers to fit all lenses including drop in filters for long lenses but use them sparingly unless you have a specific goal. Remember also that a polarizer takes away light which can be a desired effect if your trying to shoot with a slow shutter speed.

Edited August 8, 2020 by 2Oceans

Polarizing a cerulean sky with an ultra wide angle lens is futile due to unevenness and as well makes the sky too dark unless that is the artistic goal.

A blue sky is uneven across a wide angle anyway. The natural blueness varies with the angle from the sun, being palest next to the sun, and deepest opposite it. A polariser simply exaggerates the effect slightly.

 

Also, you don't have to use a polariser 'full on'. The effect can be varied from zero to full with a simple quarter-turn of the filter. And as shown above, a polariser can be used to replace a yellow or orange filter in B&W, although foliage tends to appear at lower contrast due to the removal of specular reflection from leaves.