CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

As a landscape photographer a good set of quality filters is just as important as a solid tripod to get a high quality image in camera.  I always have a circular polariser, at least one neutral density filter and a set of neutral density graduated filters in the camera bag everytime I go out on assignment or just for pleasure. When I became a professional photographer I was an early convert to the Lee filter system but then bought into the Formatt Hitech Firecrest system two years ago.  The Firecrest system offers me great quality colour neutral filters but I do find the filter holder a little fiddly and getting the polariser on and off is, quite frankly, a pain.    A couple of weeks ago I was approached by Haida, a filter manufacturer based in the city of Ningbo, 200km south of Shanghai, to see if I would be interested in reviewing their M10 and Red Diamond filter system.   I have to admit that, while I heard of the company...

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 f...