circular polarising filter ( CPL)

circular polarising filter on my S700/S5700

i have kokaii CPL filter, just very cheap CPL, only $11. and this is my experience.

actually there are two type of polarising filter linear and circular.
A circular polarizer filter (CPL) is generally required if you want to use the "auto-focus" feature in your camera. but linear are can be used too depend on characteristic of the camera, see rob nunn pages for using cookin PL.

A polarizing filter enable colors to become more saturated and appear more clear, with better contrast. This effect is often used to increase the contrast and saturation in blue skies and white clouds.it also removes unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as water and glass.

using CPL is not as easy as i tought. at the first time i have it, the result is still the same and suffered slower shutter speed. i almost waste the filter because i guess its to cheap so it useless. but after i get some advice from my friend, i realize the benefit of CPL even with cheapest one.

using CPL is more about understanding the weather and angle of the sun.you wont get a blue sky when the sky is not blue. the weather have to be clear and fresh, and sun position have to be behind you for the best result. if the sun on your right, your picture will be half blue,if the sun above you, you'll only get nothing but dark glass. this is my big mistake when do the test, because i just test it without care with the sun.

i live in equator, sun will be above our head corectly, so i dont have lot of time to use CPL. my chance to take a picture using my CPL only after sunrise from aproximately 7 AM to 11 AM, and before sunset from aproximately 2 PM to 5 PM. sunset and sunrise are good too, but we use grad ND to make a better picture.

but overall, if we can use it corectly, we will get better result than Grad ND. these are the result. no post processing at all, only resize.




you cant against the GOD rules, the brown water will be brown if you dont do any post processing, LOL.

the result if we got a cloudy day but still have a blue sky

from this picture you can see the clear cloud, more contrast color and the reflection in water, now i can take a good photo like professional with only cheap fuji s700/s5700 prosummer camera.

MISTAKE

you should not pose your position on left or right of sun, the result wont be good, here is the example




the sky is not balance, i dont have to upload the photo using CPL against the sun, you can guess the result are you?

my friend told me if i use hoya CPL with price 3 time than my CPL the result will be get more blue sky. but i guess i still use my cheap CPL. its good enough for me, its natural.

best regards

shade