Why you need filters in landscape photography

Why use filters in photography anyway?

Have you ever been frustrated by a scene full of contrasts where a bright sky overpowers a darker foreground?

Have you ever wanted to reduce reflections in water scenes and enhance the colours of the surrounding scenery?

Have you ever wished you could recreate the beautiful silky flowing water or streaky cloud movement that look amazing in other photographer's images?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then that's exactly why you NEED filters!

Using a Circular Polariser to enhance colours and reduce reflections

A circular polariser has a multitude of uses  - it can enhance the blues in the sky on a sunny day or it can reduce reflections on water and wet rocks and really bring alive the lush colours of a forest clad scene before you.

Here's two side-by-side images - no CPL on the left and using a CPL on the right. You can see how the polariser removes glare and reflections in the water and on the rocks once the polariser has been engaged. The polariser has the added effect of removing light reflections on the foliage which instantly makes the green tones lusher as well.

When you have an interesting scene UNDER the water, a polariser will allow you to SEE this in your image as well.

In the next example you can see how much the sky is enhanced on a blue sky day by using the circular polariser - it also brings out the golden hues of the grassy landscape as well.

When you have an interesting sky with a combination of sky and clouds, the polariser will help make the sky stand out better against the clouds as well.

Using a Graduated Neutral Density Filter to create balanced exposures

This is my MOST used filter - I'm never without it especially at sunrise and sunset when the contrast between sky and foreground is most extreme. The filter evens out the exposure between the two, darkening the sky so that you get a much more balanced exposure across your image - it makes editing your images so much easier when the exposure, highlights and shadows are more even so it gives you a great base from which to edit the image to make global adjustments.

Using a ND filter (6-stop or 10-stop) for long exposures

Long exposures can transform an ordinary scene to something quite magical. And the strength of which ND filter you'll want to use depends entirely on the available light in the scene. Personally I use my 6-stop (ND64) a lot more than my 10-stop (ND1000), so if I had to pick just one to purchase the ND64 would be it!

A long exposure can create an amazing silken water effect in river, waterfall and beach shots. The example below is the same waterfall above using no filters at all versus both an ND filter and polariser, I think you’ll agree the look and feel is much more artistic and pleasing to the eye.

‍On a windy evening with passing cloud, a long exposure will nicely capture the streaky sight of cloud movement overhead which introduces a very cool effect into the scene, not to mention in the waves - this was a 65 second exposure.

At the beach, a long exposure of around 30 seconds will smooth out the waves creating a silken smooth effect.

At Lake Wanaka, a 56 second exposure creates both lovely cloud movement and smooths out all the ripples (AND DUCK MOVEMENT!)  on the lake.

So what filters should you buy?

Not all filters are created equal. There are some very cheap filters out there in the market and generally you pay the price in terms of quality. There's no point having a really nice camera body and quality lens capable of taking amazing images if you then go and put a really cheap piece of glass in front of it - not only will you lose sharpness but you're likely to lose the true colours of the image you're trying to capture as well.

Circular vs Square Filters - which is best?

There are pros and cons of both and it really comes down to a balance between your budget and the flexibility you need.

Circular

PROS - generally cheaper and can be more robust

CONS -  can be less flexible. Using a circular graduated filter generally doesn’t work well - the graduation lies on the horizon and the only way to change it will be to move the camera position rather than adjusting the filter position, it often darkens the edges of your scene too much.    

Although you can stack circular filters, you might find you get vignetting due to the rounded corners of the filter against the lens.

Square

PROS - you can switch over the whole filter kit set up between lenses relatively quickly and easily with different rings. You can easily stack a polariser and 2 ND filters together for effect and there should be little or  vignetting.

CONS - more expensive as you need to purchase a holder to use them with and they can be more prone to breaking when dropped - although the KASE Amour Filters all have magnetic metal frames which significantly reduces the chance of this happening.

The filters I recommend - Kase Filters

I've used several different brands of filters over the years so I feel like I'm qualified to have an opinion now! I’m the official NZ distributor for Kase Filters and always happy to help with recommendations for your needs.

The brand I recommend most highly are KASE Filters, I use two versions:

The Kase Armour Kit - with CPL, Soft Grad Filter, ND64 and ND1000

And the Kase Revolution Circular Magnetic Kit with CPL, ND8, ND64 and ND1000

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