Pro Guide To Filters

The key to great images isn’t just in the editing process. Lens filters can help you manage exposure, colour and sharpness for superior images in-camera

It’s easy to forget the role that hardware filters have played in the development of photography as we know it today. Before it was possible to easily blend exposures, either in the darkroom or using software at the computer, it was critical to be able to control the amount of light entering the camera at the moment of image capture.

As soon as we take our camera out of the studio and into the field, the issue of uneven brightness throughout the landscape starts to take effect. The intensity of light coming from the sky is almost always going to be greater than the reflected light from foreground elements, and this means that the top half of the frame is usually going to be exposed more than the bottom half.

This is where the use of some type of filtration becomes important. By applying a material in front of the lens, which differentially permits the passage of light, we can restore the balance of exposure that our eyes are able to detect. This vastly increases the potential variety of image styles we can explore, by imparting control over exposure, independent of camera settings.

Of course, in the age of digital photography we can now shoot multiple separate exposures and blend these quickly and easily, either in-camera or with software. It could therefore be argued that using a physical sheet of glass or perspex in front of the lens is a somewhat rudimentary approach, akin to using an abacus instead of a digital calculator.

However, while there are definite advantages to software filtration, there are many filter effects that simply cannot be recreated in Photoshop, the DXO Nik Collection or any other similar software application.