Polarizing Filter, part 4

Just a shot with the CPL filter. It brought out good details in the clouds.

I took the original photo and applied some colour manipulations to create this explosive photo:

• Swapped RGB to BGR
• Increased contrast
• Increased gamma levels
• Increased saturation levels
• Increased sharpness

I might have been able to achieve the same effect without the CPL but the CPL added details to the clouds that would otherwise be harder to bring out with software.

Polarizing Filter, part 3

So, here I have taken a couple of shots of the eastern sky close to 6pm in August. The sky was blue and the sun was very bring. On the left is the shot with the Hoya CPL filter and on the right is the same shot taken without the CPL filter.















The CPL filter either brought the f-stop down a notch or two, or really polarized the light. The contrast in the sky is accentuated with the CPL filter. So, I like the CPL effect. However, notice the upper left and right corners. At 18mm the filter cuts into the frame! Yikes.

Now, is the CPL filter all that useful? I find that this is not the right application for the CPL filter. There is no glare to cut out. Below, I took the above right photo and increased the contrast and adjust the gamma correction in Irfanview. I prefer this higher contrast photo over the CPL photo which, untreated, is rather dull.

Hoya Circular Polarizing Lens Filter

Here is my PayPal receipt of payment and shipping info. It arrived after my trip to Killarney but before my second trip into the interior of Algonquin last weekend. I got to use it and it does what it was built to do -- polarizing light rays. I like it.

The filter has two rings. The inner screws into the Hoya ND filter I have. The outer ring is free to rotate. Have two filters on the lens may be too much (losing an f-stop ??) but it was troublesome having to swap them.

10.2 megapixels

Who says extra pixels don't matter? With a good lens, one can crop and get a fairly good size of a subject. This red throat black bird was shot a good 20 metres away with my Nikkor 18-200mm lens at 200mm. The original picture has too much background distraction so I cropped it. Granted that it could be a lot sharper -- and it can be achieved with a really fast lens.


A little bugger on a leaf shot a few feet away. After cropping, it needed a little sharpening.


A first shot with my new Hoya CPL filter. Well, it was not useful in this shot though. :) There was no harsh reflection. Again, this is cropped and the contrast adjusted.

One thing I found interesting is the bokeh. Some of the background is clearly circular-shaped, as if the shot was taken with a catadiopteric lens. I wonder if that was the effect of the CPL filter.

Polarizing Filter, part 2

After 10 business days, I finally received my package in the mail. The filter came in in immaculate, brand new condition so I am happy. I took some shots but clouds are hovering over our heads over the last few days. The real test will come in a couple of weeks in the interior of Algonquin. I remember I needed a polarizer a couple of months ago on my first trip. This second trip will see more pictures of the wild with a polarizer!