Đang tải dữ liệu ...
What do you do when they sky is hazy and sky ain't too blue? One of the most effective ways of cutting through this haze and capturing a vibrant photo with saturated colours and a deep blue sky is to use a polarizing filter.
Tips on Using polarizing filters
1: Buy a circular polarizing filter which matches the thread on your lens; check the end of the barrel to find out the correct size. Canon’s 18-55mm and the Olympus 14-42mm kit lenses have a filter thread of 58mm. The Nikkor and Pentax 18-55mm kit lenses have a filter thread of 52mm. Sony’s 18-70mm kit lens has a 55mm thread. Tamron 10-24mm lens have a filter thread of 77mm.
2: With the polarizer screwed onto the end of your lens, turn the outer section to see the polarizing effect. As you turn it, the effect will increase and decrease, then repeat. Simply stop when it looks best to you. The strength of the effect also varies depending on your angle to the Sun. The best angle check is always putting your big thumb up with the sun at the back of your head.
3: To prevent your DSLR from counteracting the polarizing effect, set the White Balance to Daylight and consider applying negative Exposure Compensation of, say, -2/3 or -1 EV.
4: After taking your photo, remember to
set the White Balance back to Auto and the Exposure Compensation back
to zero. Unless it’s a bright sunny day, remove the polarizer and
return it to its case.
Blue sky turned weird~
Sometimes polarizing filters can make the sky an unrealistic colour. To avoid this, adjust the outer ring for a lesser effect, and also consider taking two shots, one with the polarizer and one without in case you end up preferring the latter.
Polarizing filters reduce the amount of light entering your camera, forcing you to use longer exposures. This in turn increases the risk of camera-shake, so when using polarizing filters, always take care to keep your camera steady.
Polarizing filters will only have the
effect shown here on bright sunny days. If it’s overcast or cloudy,
they’ll have little or no effect, so it’s best to remove them. Likewise
indoors or at night.
Cheaper kit lenses rotate their
barrels when auto-focusing, which will also turn a polarizing filter,
changing its effect. If you have this kind of lens, half press the
shutter release first to autofocus before turning the polarizer. When
subsequently turning the filter, you may knock the focus very slightly,
so once the polarizer is in the right position, half-press the shutter
again to get the focus spot-on.
Equipment tip
Polarizers
come in two main types: Linear and Circular. Circular polarizers, or
CPLs for short, are designed to not confuse the autofocus or metering
systems on modern cameras, so this is the type you’ll need to buy for
your DSLR.
