Fun Effects - Camera Filters, Soft Focus, Zooming And Panning

Camera Filters
There are numerous filters you can buy for your camera lens and they all create different and fun effects. Let's discuss a few of the more common filters:

Polarizing Filters
The most common filter for use in landscape photography is a polarizer. If landscapes are what you want to use your camera for, I have two words for you: Get One. A polarizer will make your colors super saturated and eliminate reflections from water, so you can see rocky lake and riverbeds and add foreground depth to your images. They'll make your skies beautifully dark blue and the clouds will really stand out. A polarizer will also reduce ugly glares and reflections from windows. The only reflections they won't change are ones in metallic surfaces.

Natural light - UNpolarized light, that is - moves in waves that vibrate in all different directions. Some might travel in sort of an up-and-down motion, but there are a million other light rays all traveling from side to side, in diagonal waves or any other number of directions. Imagine standing with a partner who is about twenty feet away from you. Each of you is holding one end of a long jump rope. Both of you begin to shake the rope wildly in all different directions. What happens? People will probably cross the street to walk around you because of your weird behavior, for one. But what happens to the rope? It will move around in all kinds of various directions, just like you are.

BUT if you take your rope and run it through a picket fence and stand on either side of the fence and do the same thing, the holes that run up and down in the picket fence will then only let waves move through that are vertically oriented, no matter how much you flail around with the rope in all directions.

A polarizer basically does the same thing. By letting in light that is moving in only one direction, it eliminates a lot of haze in the sky caused by light being reflected off of water vapor and other particles in the air. The following photos were taken on a hazy day this summer, one with a polarizer and one without. When I took the picture, I remember thinking how there really weren't any clouds to speak of, but after putting the polarizing filter on, what a difference! Notice how the clouds stand out. The specular highlights that were on the barn without the polarizer are also gone, making for much more saturated colors and overall a more eye-catching photograph.

Polarizers also work well for photographing framed artwork or anything else under glass to cut down on any distracting reflections.

One note - all polarizers are not created equal. I've bought cheap ones in the past thinking that a polarizer is just a polarizer and any one would do. A good polarizer will be more expensive, but it will be well worth it. Also, the wider lens you want a polarizer for, the more your polarizer will cost. If you're planning on buying one, go down to your local camera store and talk to them about their selection of circular polarizers and what the differences are. There are even polarizers that will change the colors in your photograph, which can be a fun effect sometimes.

Soft Focus Filters
The use of soft focus is one of my favorite photography techniques. One very important thing to understand about soft focus photography is that it does not mean 'out of focus'. Soft focus generally gives a soft feeling especially to the highlights in the picture, while leaving the details of the image very sharp. They are very useful if you're interested in portrait photography for adding a peaceful feeling to an image and helping make skin tones to be more attractive.

Note in the photograph above, the details come out quite clearly, but the highlights of the image have an almost magical glow. Scenes with moody lighting like this are an ideal use of soft-focus photography.

Most photo filter manufacturers make soft focus filters for your lenses in varying intensities so you can control how soft you want the image to be. Some lens manufacturers even make soft focus lenses that are of fantastic quality, but expect to pay much more for those. If you go into wedding photography or something where soft focus is an effect you'll be using a lot, it can be worth it to invest the money in one of these lenses. You can also create soft-focus effects yourself without spending a dime, just by stretching a nylon stocking over your camera lens. This baby photograph was taken with that technique.

I know of other photographers who use optically clear filters and smear a dab of petroleum jelly around the edges for a soft-focus 'framing' effect that can be beautiful.

If you're shooting with a film SLR that has the capability of making multiple-exposure images, you can also create a beautiful soft-focus effect by taking two exposures on the same frame of film. You need a tripod for this. Simply take one image that is tack sharp, then without advancing the film in your camera, play with your focus until the entire image is out of focus and create a second exposure. The following image was created in this manner, and it's fun because you have unlimited control of how much soft focus you wind up with.

Note that when you do this, you'll have to take into account that you will need to change the exposure on your camera. Taking two exposures on one frame of film with the correct exposure settings will actually overexpose your photograph by letting in twice the required amount of light. Cutting your shutter speed in half for each exposure for stopping down your lens to let in half the light will fix this.

More Filters To Know About The Star Filter
Star filters were especially popular in the 1980's in advertising. Their overuse at the time has given them sort of a 'cheesy' feel today, but they can still be used for a nice effect in the right situations. They're most often used to add sparkle to bright water scenics, candle flames, stadium or stage lighting, jewelry photography, night scenes, and many other situations where you want to add a dramatic effect to bright lights. They make them on both optically clear filters and soft focus filters. You can get them to add little 'stars' to the highlights of your image with any different number of points - four, six on up to sixteen.

The Fog Filter
The fog filter is different from a soft focus filter. Rather than creating an even, soft focus, a fog filter mimics natural fog, creating a soft glow with a bit of flare and producing a warm romantic tone. They have different grades, some that create a very light effect that can be beautiful on water scenes and other, heavier grades that create a far more unnatural effect which can be used in fantasy scenes, etc.

Filters For Black And White Photography
We've talked a lot about color photography, but up until this point we haven't discussed black and white photography much. Some of the real magic of creating black and white photography is the hands-on process you get when you're working in the darkroom and it's almost impossible to translate that magic to text. I can tell you that you should give it a try, but without actually being able to drag you into a darkroom and show you how to develop and print your own photographs, you won't know the incredible feeling you get when you see those beautiful prints that you've made yourself.

I will, however, talk about filters for use in black and white work, as they're extremely important for good results in black and white photography. But I'll leave it up to you to go find a camera club or hands-on photography class where they'll then teach you how to take your pictures further by working in a darkroom. Black and white photography can be incredibly powerful when care and knowledge are put into the making of prints - if that weren't true, Ansel Adams would not be (arguably) one of the most famous household names in photography history.

To make an object appear darker on film than it does to the eye, select a filter that has a color that is complementary to the color of the object.

This color wheel is a simple way to figure out complementary colors if you are unfamiliar with them. Our color spectrum is made up from red, yellow and blue. When you mix red and yellow, you get orange. When you mix blue and yellow you get green, etc. If you look at this diagram, the color located across from red is green. That means that green, yellow and blue have absolutely no red in them.

In black and white photography, everything is rendered in shades of grey, black and white. To assure that all of the objects in your image don't come out as very similar shades of grey, making a boring image, a filter can darken tones in your image while lightening other tones. A dark red filter on a bright day with puffy clouds, really define those clouds while darkening the blue sky, adding drama to your image. An orange filter will do the same thing - to a lesser degree - and a yellow filter to an even lesser degree.

In black and white photography, these filters will not really affect subjects with very little color. One interesting way to get an idea of how filters will work in black and white photography is to pick up some of those cheap sunglasses with colored lenses. If you put them on, go outdoors and really pay attention, you'll get a good feeling for what tones will lighten and darken when you use photographic filters in black and white photography. You can try this as a mini-assignment if you want, but don't blame me if people look at you funny because of your glasses.

Panning
Remember in lesson two when we talked about shutter speed and I showed you shots of how by setting your camera on a tripod and using a long shutter speed, you can get a dramatic motion blur of a moving object. By 'panning' your camera, you can keep the moving object in focus while blurring the entire background. This is also an impressive effect. It's not at all difficult once you've practiced a little. You need to have your camera focused on the subject, moving along at the same speed as the subject, and continue moving along with it as you press the shutter, all through the exposure. It takes practice to keep the motion smooth and not be jerky, but when you get it right, you'll be please with the result. It's a great way to get rid of an ugly background when your subject is moving in a way you can predict if the circumstances don't permit you to use a small depth of field. I've seen great shots using this technique with a creative variety of subjects, from fashion models on a catwalk to sporting events to wild deer running through the forest, giving the trees an ethereal effect. When combined with a particularly interesting camera angle, you can achieve a very visually interesting final image that looks highly professional.

Zooming
Zoom blur is another fun technique that can add a visual punch to your photographs. For this you need a zoom lens on an SLR camera.

Upon depressing the shutter, you can move your lens barrel either in or out to produce this effect. You need to have the camera on a tripod in order to keep the center of the image in focus and clear while creating a streaky-zoom effect. One interesting thing to note is that whether you zoom in or out, the final effect is the same. This technique can really make a boring, static image a very powerful final photograph. This can be really fun to try and night with streetlights to add a feeling of motion and business to a city street scene. I've also seen it used in a crowd of marathon runners to add a jumbled, crazy feeling to the image.