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Polarising Filter and Shooting in Bright Sunlight Outdoor Environment


pig882009

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It is nice spring weather in Meloubrne now, and i have been shooting with my 35mm lux in the beautiful botanical garden in melb.

 

However, I am having issues with the strong lighting contrast of the images. The background is so bright, all the focused object is shadowing.

 

I am thinking get a polarising filter for the lens. My question are:

 

1. would it help the situation

2. how does it work

3. do i need to get geniune leica filter

 

thanks guys.

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Perhaps a graduated ND filter might be a better option, but a polarizer is a useful thing to have. A linear pol filter is all you'll need as a circular is meant for autofocus. A B+W is just as good as a Leica and instead of buying the $500 Leica universal polarizer, following these instructions from Lars will save you money and space:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/1771195-post4.html

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A polariser can indeed cut down on subject contrast in bright sunlight, because many highlights are in fact slightly polarised, so they can be affected by a polarising screen.

 

If many of the annoying highlights are mainly horisontally polarised, as with glittering water or the sheen on foliage, then a vertically oriented polariser will do the trick. If your polariser is marked the right way, by the factory or following the procedure I suggested, then orient the mark at 12 o'clock. In more complex situations, you may have to take a peek through the polariser before screwing it in.

 

Without the polarising effect, the filter acts just like a c. 1 1/3 f-stop neutral grey filter.

 

Lars B

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A friend to hold a diffuser screen ?

 

A pola will not help more than a little. A tripod and HDR is wonderful at opening shadows. Take care you do not make it look like a cartoon like many who post HDR. It can look like a normal photo with better range of tones.

 

I recently did a fruit bowl photo as subject for an experimental oil painting. Light was bounced into a white umbrella and I had a fill reflector. I still needed to control specular highlights. 7 stop bracket HDR solved the problem.

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Hmmm....I'm not fully understanding your problem but a polariser won't change your lighting ratio. Sounds like you need a reflector or fill flash more than a polariser. You need to add light where there is shadow or balance it with exposure best you can.

 

A polariser will polarise the light coming through the lens so it will cut reflections and haze and saturate colours. It looks nice on blue skies. It normally reduces exposure by around 2 stops depending on the filter.

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You do not need a genuine Leica filter. I owned the Leica universal polarizer and found it to be a pain since it's so bulky .. But it does work. I suppose if you are really using it a lot it may be worth it. But with the new M coming live view will be the best choice so you can use a circular polarizer.

It sounds more like you may want to try HDR. The M9 is fantastic for HDR. You have the option of up to 7 exposures and 2 EV spread. I took the following photos with 7 exposures. Then blended in Photomatix. Photoshop HDR works pretty good too but Photomatix seems a little better for landscape.

Lake Moraine | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lake Moraine | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lake Moraine | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lake Louise | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Using the polarizer in this situation reduces the reflection on the water and darkens the sky if it is at the right angle to the sun(sometimes you may want that reflection). The polarizer I used was a cheap $14 ebay circular polarizer and I just hold it up to the lens which is not ideal but it did work. Again not ideal but unless you are really doing a lot of polarizing shots it works. If doing a lot I think I would look at the Kenko polarizer until you can get a live view M.

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I agree completely with Jaap and Philipus that a polariser is not the best tool to control contrast. It can do this to some extent if the annoying light is polarised, and the rest is not (or polarised in a different direction) but judicious fill flash, or a reflector if you can find somebody to hold it, are more practical solutions.

 

And yes, the best solution is to choose a day when there are light, hazy clouds to diffuse the harsh direct sunlight. In the really old days, when reversal film had a really short dynamic range, we were often enjoined to save our precious Kodachrome for such days.

 

The old man from the Kodachrome Age

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I guess we don't know what your camera is, but if it is digital the very best solution to a high contrast range would be to use a tripod (good for static subjects anyway), and make a series of bracketed exposures, blending them into a natural rendition of the scene in post processing. You can therefore do things that neutral grads can't do, but you can still use a polarising filter to reduce reflections and intensify colours.

 

Steve

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