Make outdoor photographs pop with a Polarizer

What is a Polarizer?

If you’re a photographer who shoots outdoors a lot, you’ve likely scrutinized closely the outdoor photos from other photographers, and in doing so – you may have noticed deep blue skies, crisp lines on green surfaces, or generally higher contrast. These are pictures that were (in all likelihood) shot through a polarizer.

What a polarizer does is to remove stray waves of light, which cause reflections. By doing this, they can increase the clarity of foliage (which often reflect a degree of light), remove the reflection on the top of water, and increase the color saturation (particularly in blues and greens). Clouds will pop, trees will stand out, and images will generally appear richer.

Polarization dangers

Polarization is a great effect, but it can be overused. At high altitudes, where there is very little atmosphere to help scatter the light – or even at sea level on a crisp, clear day. Too much polarization can cause the sky to go navy blue (or close to black). Not good.

Also, because the polarizer is quite dense, it can cause your wide-angle shots to experience dark edges if you aren’t careful. To combat this, you can get a “thin” polarizer, which are more expensive, but will help remedy this vignetting problem.

Finally, make sure that you use a circular polarizer with a Digital SLR, as a linear polarizer could cause trouble with the autofocus sensor in your camera.

Using a Polarizer

The polarizer effect only functions when it is rotated in proper relation to the scene you are shooting. You’ll still get the benefit of increased contrast and saturation without doing so, but the reduction of glare can only be achieved this way.

Circular polarizers rotate, and when you rotate one, you’ll see stuff happening in your viewfinder. What you’re doing is lining up the etching on the filter with the stray waves of light. What you’re looking for is a reduction in glare off surfaces, and for an increase in the contrast between sky and clouds. Metering will all be handled in-camera with the filter attached by the camera’s internal metering system.

Bear in mind that when some lenses focus, the end element (which the filter is attached to) also rotate, so you will need to use a little forethought if this is the case, by focusing first, polarizing after.

Have fun!