Will You Be Using A Polariser This Weekend?

Given the 20C plus weather we are predicted this weekend, one item of kit you might want to have in your camera bag is a polariser.

A polarising filter changes the way that your camera registers and records light. Using one will alter the way colours, glare and reflections are presented in your images.

In particular, the blue skies that are going to be around over the Easter break will be even bluer in your photos, and the colours more saturated. Here are two shots that I recently took in Venice on a sunny day; one without a polariser and one with. The difference is quite startling!

If you haven’t already guessed, the one on the top/left was without a polariser, ;) Notice the richness in the sky and the saturation of the green, red and yellow in the image.

By turning the polarising filter on the end of your lens (they can be bought for around £35), you will be able to see how the blue in the sky changes from a hazy blue to a more rich, darker blue. It’s up to you how blue you want the sky to look.

It’s best to use a polariser when you’re not facing the sun. If you’re shooting into the sun, a polariser won’t have any effect as the sky is often white around the sun because of the intensity of the light bleaching it out. However at 90 or 180 degrees to the sun, you’ll see a big difference to the sky and the colours if you are using a polariser.

You might also notice that the clouds become ‘punchier’ as the whites become more saturated and defined.

A polariser cuts out between 1 or 2 stops of light from entering your camera. On a sunny day this means you will be able to get a slower shutter than is normally possible on a bright day. This opens up the creativity potential of more movement in your photo.

Do remember however, a polariser will affect the colours and reflections of the objects in your image too, which is one of its main uses. A polariser helps colours become more saturated because it is cutting down the amount of glare or reflection that objects naturally give off. This can be more pronounced on a hot day.

It’s up to you and the effect you are after if you want to cut out that glare or not. For example, if you are shooting across water, you might want to keep the sparkly reflections to add mood and the drama of a hot day to your image. Alternatively, it might be a distraction in your image.

So this is just an introduction to the effects using a polariser can have on your photos. If you are out taking photos with one, I’d like to hear your experiences of using it and maybe even see a photo or two :)

Let’s hope we do get the excellent weather we have been predicted over the Easter holidays. Good luck!

Digital Cameras Are Everywhere These Days

A quality camera at a reasonable price is not hard to find today because every electronics manufacturer has their own range and the competition is fierce.

Unlike traditional cameras which used light sensitive film to capture images, digital cameras use its own set of light sensing technology to convert the world we see into a digital file at the touch of a button. This file is then stored to the camera’s internal memory or more often than not to a memory card that you will have to purchase in order to expand the camera’s picture storing capabilities.

The Cost of Storage Is Cheaper Than Ever Before

Most manufacturers give measly little built-in memory with their cameras because they want to keep the costs of their camera as low as possible so as to ward off the competition, and in the past memory cards with decent storage capacities were expensive.

Thankfully the price of memory cards for digital cameras has come down drastically.

You can now get 1GB or more for under a tenner, which is enough for at least a few 100 photos.

With a memory card installed you can usually just remove the card from your camera and insert it into your PC or laptop if it comes with a memory card reader, or as is more usually the case you can use the supplied USB cable to plug your camera straight into your computer to transfer images.

However, the one thing that you should be aware of in relation to memory cards in digital photography is that there is not one standard format of memory card that will work in all cameras.

Some manufacturers differ in their preference, so before you buy a camera it’s essential that you find out what type of memory card it requires.

Different Types of Memory Card

The most commonly used memory card format is the SD card, used by Samsung, Kodak, Panasonic, Pentax and many others. This means that it’s fairly easy to find cheap SD memory cards with good storage capacities either online or in an electronics store that will work instantly with your digital camera.

But beware…there has been a recent development in SD technology which has produced SDHC cards, with storage sizes of 4GB right up to 32GB. Most older cameras which take SD cards won’t be able to take advantage of these increased capacity SDHC cards, so check a new camera before you buy to see if it is compatible.

Sony cameras require a Sony Memory Stick, which is of course Sony’s own memory card format, and Olympus use XD cards which differ in size and shape from SD cards.

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