Tips for better Landscape Photographs: Part 2 - Filters

In Part One of this series of features on how to improve your landscape photography I spoke about the different methods of supporting your camera to avoid the dreaded camera shake, to allow you to shoot longer exposures and to aid in composition. This week I am going to talk about the filters I use on the camera and to show you what a difference they can make to the final image.

Why do we need to put filters on the camera?  
In this era of Snapseed, Instagram, Photoshop Elements and other editing programs, I can hear some of you asking why we need to use filters when everything can be done afterwards in post production.  

Yes I agree some filters can be applied in post production but the goal of every photographer should be to get as much right at the time you press the shutter release.  'Sorting it out later in Photoshop' is not a good way to becoming a better photographer and can't bring back detail in a landscape that has been grossly overexposed.

So what filters should we have for landscape photography?
I have five types of filters in my camera bag.  These are -

• Lee Neutral Density Graduate Filters - 0.3 (+1 stop), 0.6 (+2 stops), 0.9 (+3 stops)
• Lee Big Stopper 10x Neutral Density filter
• Hoya Pro Circular Polariser
• Hoya Pro +3 stop Neutral Density filter
• Hoya Skylight filter

I have no coffee grads, sunset grads, starburst filters etc, those belong in the 1990s.  However the ones I have listed should be on every landscape photographers list as they are essential for balancing the light to give you the best exposure when you press the shutter release.

Types of Filters
Filters come in two types. 1. Screw in and 2. Slot in.

The screw in type are very useful but you need to have a set of filters for each lens you use unless they are all have the same size filter thread.  What I do is buy the filters for the lens with the widest filter thread - in my case this is 77mm - and then I buy step up adapter rings up to 77mm for all the other lenses in my kit. For example I have a 52mm to 77mm adapter ring, a 58mm to 77mm adapter ring, a 62mm-77mm and a 72mm to 77mm.  Step up rings are quite cheap (around £5) and it means you only have to buy one set of filters for all your lenses.

The other type is the slot in filters.  You will need a filter holder for the front of your lens and an adapter ring.  I follow the same principle as I have outlined above and use the step up rings for each of my lenses.  

Different Manufacturers
As with everything in life there are different manufacturers and price points.  With photographic filters the more you pay the better the quality.  There is no point buying a £1000 pro level lens and then putting a £5 piece of coloured plastic in front of it, the quality of the final image will be degraded.  

However there are good filters at every price point.  Stick to the main manufacturers and you won't go wrong.  Cokin (P or Z Type), Hitech, Hoya or Lee.  Lee filters are very good and the go to filters for many professional landscape photographers.  They are not cheap but the quality is superb and manufacturing process means that you don't get colour shifts in the final image when using the neutral density graduate filters.  However all of the manufacturers I have list produce excellent results.

Neutral Density Graduate Filters
These are essential for balancing the exposure between a bright sky and the land.  A grad is clear on the bottom half and grey on the top half.  The density of the top half determines the amount of exposure compensation the filter will add.  I have three ND grads as listed above and they can also be stacked in the filter holder to multiply the effect.

Here is a shot of a scene I took yesterday on the coastal path near Pease Bay in the Scottish Borders.  The first shot was taken without any filters and the sky is pretty much bleached out.  

I could probably pull some of that detail back in Photoshop but most of the details will be gone. However there is an easier way and that is to use an ND grad.  This next shot was taken using a Lee 0.9 (+3stop) ND Filter

You can immediately see the difference between the two shots.  If you use the correct level of ND graduate filter you can produced correctly exposed landscapes in the camera.

Polariser Filter
The polariser is also a very useful filter for a landscape photographer to have in the camera bag.  It saturates the colours in an image, manages reflections and suppresses glare from the surface of water. Most photographers use it to make the skies bluer but a polariser does have many other uses when shooting landscapes.

A polariser is used by rotating the front element until you see the desired effect in the viewfinder.  The best effects are achieved with the sun at 90 degrees to the subject you are shooting.

Here is an example of a landscape demonstrating the effect of a polariser.  The first shot is a straight image with no filtration -

The second shot is with the polariser in place 

I will be honest and say that the conditions were far from ideal for using a polariser but you can see the difference in the two images I took.  If you use a polariser on a bright day or near to still water, you will see a dramatic  difference in the final image.  

One thing, a polariser blocks light entering the camera, this is how it works.  This means that with a polariser filter fitted the shutter speed will drop by 2 stops and you need to be aware of this to avoid camera shake if you are handholding the camera.

Big Stoppers and Neutral Density Filters
I use a Lee Big Stopper, which is a 10x ND filter.  This filter is almost black and is allows the photographer to use much longer shutter speeds which will blur moving water and moving clouds.  For example a standard exposure of 1/30 second without a filter becomes 30 seconds when using a Big Stopper and a 1 second exposure become 16 minutes. Lee allow have a 6x ND filter (the little stopper) while HiTech have produced the Firecrest, which is a 16x ND filter. These filters allow the landscape photographer a great deal of creativity when parts of the landscape are moving.

Here is an example taken at the ruin of St Helen's Chapel in the Scottish Borders.  The first shot is unfiltered with an exposure of 1/30s -

The second shot was taken with a 30 second exposure with the Big Stopper fitted -

You can see the effect in the clouds and the wind blown grass, there is plenty of movement in the second picture which is trademark of this type of image.  The picture at the top of the page was also taken using a Big Stopper filter.

I also have Hoya Pro 3 stop ND filters for my fast prime lenses - 35mm f1.4, 18mm f2 and 56mm f1.2.  This is so I can control the light entering the camera and shoot a very wide apertures in bright light.  Without the ND filter the final image would be badly overexposed when shooting a subject with an aperture of f2 or wider on the Fujifilm X-T1 or X-Pro1.

UV/ Skylight filters
The humble skylight or UV filter is usually used to protect the front element of a lens.  Photographic film used to be sensitive to ultra violet light, which caused fogginess or haziness in the final image.  More modern films and digital sensors are a lot more insensitive to UV light and therefore aren't affected by it.  However it is a good idea to use skylights or UV filters to protect the front element of your lenses against scratches and other damage.  BUT remember to buy good quality filters so the final image quality is adversely affected by a cheap filter.

Conclusion
Using filters to control the exposure when shooting landscapes is an essential part of improving the quality of your landscape images.  Try it and I can guarantee that if you haven't been using filters before, you will be afterwards.

NEXT TIME:  Part 3: Composing a Great Image - Monday 16 March

Part 1: A Supporting Role - Published Monday 2 March CLICK HERE

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