How to Use a Circular Polarising Filter – A Complete Guide
Glare from the sun and other reflective surfaces can wash out an image—and not in a
desirable way. When working shooting environments where there’s too much glare and
reflection, photographers typically rely on digital camera filter tools that can help neutralise
light sources so they end up with crisp and clear images that are free from unwanted
reflections and glare. A circular polarising filter is a widely used type of polarising filter that
is efficient in countering reflective measures, while deepening certain hues, therefore adding
more contrast to backgrounds such as skies, and reducing and to an extent, removing
reflections from windows, water, and other reflective surfaces. The result is a well-balanced
image in terms of saturation and contrast.
A circular polariser or a circular polarising filter is a digital camera filter tool that consists of
two filters that are joined together so they can be rotated until they absorb just enough
reflected sun rays top obtain the effect you desire in your photos. This filter is an essential
tool when composing images and shifting from vertical to horizontal framing (or the
opposite). As a CPL filter is rotated, the device cuts out specific reflected or refracted light
waves, removing up to 1 ½ stops of light from the image while the camera’s light meter
automatically adjusts for the change in lighting. A circular polarising filter can deepen blues,
remove reflections, increase contrast, and enhance the overall quality of photographs.
What a polarising filter does is cut out polarised light (single wave, direct reflected light) so
as to reduce glare resulting from overly bright light sources. There used to be a time when
photographers needed all kinds of specialty filters to achieve the image effects they desire.
Any photographer would be foolish not to come armed with a good selection of cooling,
warming, graduated, coloured, and other specialised filters when shooting outdoors. Today
however, editing software and similar programs has essentially rendered many of these
specialty filters redundant and somewhat superfluous. Many professional photographers,
save for the purists, agree that one needs no more than a polarising and an ND filter these
days.