" polarizer filter for your soul "

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i'm not sure about the techniques of my other fellow photogs, but i shoot with a polarizer filter on my lenses all the time. even though i know i'm losing between a stop to a stop and a half with it's usage, i know that the ability to deepen blue skies and remove sheen/shine from faces/glass, far outweighs having to shoot slower or at a higher ISO.

i remember the first time i found out about the illustrious polarizer. i was in high school, and was purchasing a darkroom setup which included and enlarger and some other choice tools. the seller was the father of a boy that i went to school with, and he was getting rid of all of this equip. he said that if i could pay him a clean hundred, he'd also throw in a polarizer filter.

since i didn't know what it was, and how it was to be implemented, he showed me how it used two slivers of polarized glass to cancel out certain light. it was magic from the first experience, and that feeling has followed through to my current digital photog self.

i remember just going nuts after that, always looking for the cancelation of shine and sheens on surfaces. i loved darkening the sky to a deep near-black (when shooting b/w film), by stacking an ND filter, a red filter, and a polarizer filter on top like a cherry rocket blasting my images into the obliteration of grays.

in any case, despite all of that glass in front of the lens array and having to shoot so so so slow, i always loved the results. i guess this is why today, with a camera loads heavier and a lens that looks more like a water bottle with a metal skirt, i have a steady hand.

the ability of making my photo more clear, to pull the shades of haze and refracted light aside, and get to the pure intent of the intended image, was and still is a real treat of a moment.

tonight's homework:

buy or borrow a polarizer filter, making sure to do research on brands, linear or circular, thin, threaded, and millimeter. try and test out your normal subject matter, day or night, indoor, studio or outdoor, and see if it's worth it to incorporate this filter into your bag of tools.

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