After a number of years the photographer tends to amass an array of contrivances and gadgets; some useful - some not so, in the pursuance of the ideal image. The useless ones that inevitably crept into the inventory have long been eliminated, but there are those that while still useful have fallen out of favour.
One such item is the polariser. At one time this versatile filter had a permanent residency on the end of all my lenses, irrespective of whether the scene would benefit or not. But this light-sucking device, along with tobacco grads and starburst filters eventually fell by the wayside as technology - and good taste - prevailed.
So today I decide to shoot with one, just to see if they really are as indispensable as I once thought, and attach it to a 24-70 zoom lens and head for Poole harbour. Although useful for reducing unwanted reflections and increasing white cloud/blue sky contrast I now find the filter a fiddle to use with a lens hood in place (I never shoot without one) and the constant need for it to be reoriented every time I change from landscape to portrait format, otherwise the effect is lost. That, plus the fact it guzzles around two stops of light, will make me think twice before attaching one to the front of my lenses in future. That's not to say that this accessory has no place in my bag: it does - Photoshop still can't simulate the effect these filters have on a scene - it's just that I'm used to working without one, and for low-light photography they are a non starter. How the mighty have fallen.
Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 EX-DG lens. 1/160 second at f/11. + 0.3 EV. ISO 500. Polarising filter.
© 2009
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