Polarizing Filters

[Richard Sloman]

I recently bought a polarizing filter and have had some success with it on beautiful sunny days so I understand what it can do, but yesterday I had the opportunity to use it for the first time around water at a lake in Switzerland and I must say the images have come out quite stunning, it really lets you play around with different effects.

My question though is, whilst the filter allows you to take away the glare of the sunlight from the water to whatever degree you want, without the glare, this particular lake has a very green hue to it and the water looks like its been manipulated as the color seems over done. So just how much glare should you try to eliminate?



Here is with glare:


And without:

[Andre v]

I suppose it depends on what you are trying to achieve with your image.

I really like the top image, where was it taken?

[SteveG]

season to taste, I say. all you are doing is revealing the colour that the glare normally masks.

[Richard Sloman]

Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, my regular commute route between Stuttgart and Turin...

[Richard Sloman]

season to taste, I say. all you are doing is revealing the colour that the glare normally masks.

So no hard and fast rules about this one?

[SteveG]

like most effects and techniques it has a tasteful range of application and an overdone range of application. varies from person to person, of course.