Wildlife Photography across the Water: Using a Polariser for Fall colours

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Using a Polariser for Fall colours

Most people use a polariser Filter to remove reflections and to make the sky extra blue but i have used it a lot lately to make the fall colours really pop, The use of a polariser filter saturates the colours if used properly, Once you have composed your image just look through the viewfinder and turn the filter until the colours are at the most saturated, You will easily see the difference and it will make your images pop out of the screen

Here is a scene i took a week or so ago with and without the filter

You can clearly see that the polarised image is at the top and the bottom image looks very flat, The images are straight from the camera just resized for the web-after some processing the top image looks like this

You don't have to spend a fortune on the filter although i would advise getting the best that you can afford, Look at the Hoya,Sigma and B+W ranges, Dont forget that a polariser will take 2 stops of light away so you have a slow shutter speed so either increase your ISO if hand holding or better still use a tripod and cable release

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.