How to Understand Basic Camera Filters

Professional photographers carry a variety of filters in their camera bags to enhance their photos and protect their expensive equipment. If there is a situation in which you can take a photo, there is probably a filter that will improve it. Whether you're using a traditional film camera or a digital camera, filters can improve your images.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Look at your camera's lens. All Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras have a small threaded ring at the end of the lens where you can screw on one or more filters. However, a point-and-shoot camera may not accept filters.

2. Protect your lenses with a skylight filter that does double-duty by cutting haze from your photos. Relatively inexpensive, many photographers use this filter all the time. If you drop your camera, it's much cheaper to replace the skylight filter than an expensive broken lens.

3. Highlight the red tones with an intensifying filter. Designed to enhance red flowers, sunsets and desert scenes, the intensifying filter adds vibrancy to your photos.

4. Eliminate harsh reflections during daytime shooting with a polarizing filter. Designed to reduce the glare of bright sunlight, the polarizing filter will also add contrast to clouds and rich tones to your images.

5. Blur water scenes with a neutral density filter. Determined by the amount of light-blocking sensitivity, these filters come in different strengths to restrict the light entering your camera lens when you take a photo. They effectively blur water patterns for a softer effect.

6. Neutralize unflattering skin tones under fluorescent lights with a fluorescent filter. By removing the harsh green cast created by a fluorescent light, this filter dramatically improves skin tones.

Tips & Warnings

• Try a circular polarizer that you can twist to adjust its glare-reducing ability.
• Use red and orange filters when shooting in black and white to enhance contrast.