Four kinds of filters necessary for beginners of photography

Photographers who have just started to learn photography often see the word "filter". In fact, there are many different kinds of filters now. For beginners, how should I choose to buy the necessary filters? When will it be used? This article will give you some hints!

(1) UV filter/protective glasses

UV mirror, also known as ultraviolet filter, refers to a filter used in digital cameras, which plays a role in protecting the lens and improving the image quality. UV mirrors are usually colorless and transparent, and some will appear purple or purplish red at a specific angle because of antireflection films.

This may be the first filter that photographers have come into contact with. It's completely transparent. In the past, most of them were UV filters, but now many manufacturers only regard glass as a "protective mirror", which can be installed for a long time in daily shooting to protect expensive lenses. However, when exposed for a long time (such as night scene and starry sky), or when shooting towards a light source with a small aperture (such as shooting the star-shaped sun), it is recommended to temporarily remove this protective mirror to avoid catching dust on the mirror surface or causing light problems.

(2) Polarizer (CPL)

Many photographers will invest money in cameras, lenses and so on. When they just learned photography, but in fact, there are many accessories that are very worthy of configuration. They are not expensive, but they can make your photography world look different!

The following is a sharp weapon for shooting scenery-Polarizer (CPL). Polarizer is one of the necessary filters for taking goggles photos. Its main functions are: making the sky bluer, enhancing hue, enhancing color saturation, reducing/removing the reflection of water, glass and green leaves, and reducing light efficiency.

A high-quality polarizer is really valuable in landscape shooting, because by reducing the reflection, not only can the photos be more colorful, but also the scenery that can't be photographed when not in use, such as the crystal clear lake or the decorations under the glass.

(3) Gradient Gray Filter (GND)

In addition to the CPL polarizer mentioned in the second point, one of the necessary filters for landscape photographers is GND gradient gray! GND is a transparent to gray filter, there are two kinds: square and round. GND is mainly used to balance light difference, avoid large-area overexposure or darkness, and make photos professional immediately! For example, if you take photos of the sky and the ground in broad daylight, if you don't use the GND filter, the sky will be overexposed and the ground will be normal, or the sky will be normal and the ground will be too dark. GND can solve or reduce this problem and make the photos you take more in line with (or exceed) the environment that the naked eye can see now! In addition, using GND filter can also make photos have a fantastic effect similar to HDR photos, which is very interesting!

(4) Dimming filter (ND)

As the name implies, a dimming filter is a filter used to reduce the incoming light. Like CPL and GND, it has squares and circles. Some students will ask, why do you need ND dimming filter? Just turn down the aperture, speed up the shutter speed and reduce the ISO. In fact, sometimes these settings may not be applicable, such as:

Tap water: Many times we need to use a shutter of tens of seconds or slower. Even if the aperture and ISO are lowered, the shutter may not slow down to keep the photo unexposed. At this time, it is necessary to reduce the lens.

Take a portrait with a large aperture: it's not just a portrait. When using large aperture (f/2.8, f/ 1.4, etc.). ) To shoot a shallow depth of field, the shutter speed often exceeds the camera's limit. If the shutter exceeds 1/4000s, 1/8000s, etc. And the photos are overexposed, we will

Remove the afterimage of moving objects: Like shooting running water, we sometimes want to add the afterimage of moving objects with a slow shutter. We can also add a zoom lens with a large dimming degree and use an ultra-slow shutter to remove moving objects in the photo.

Choose a square or circular filter?

For UV protection/goggles, you should buy a circular filter that matches the lens size to provide close protection. Should CPL filters also be used? Shape, because you need to turn the filter when you use it. The shape is more convenient. GND gradient gray filter can be square and suitable for most lenses with different diameters. The neodymium reduction mirror can be square or round.