Ep. 33: Unlocking the Secrets of Circular Polarisers (CPL)

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Hi, my name is Kevin Aronson from Hampshire School of Photography and welcome to Talk Talk 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

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All engines running Liftoff.

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We have a liftoff.

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And welcome to another episode of Talk Talk.

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This is number 33.

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We seem to be getting through them quite quickly.

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Now it's a solo session this one.

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No, kelly with me tonight.

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Kelly's got a week off.

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Just to remind you, kelly and I meet together once a fortnight and the sessions in between, like this one, are solo sessions and primarily and this may change and get modified as time passes by primarily these solo sessions are me answering your questions.

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If you go to the Tog Talk website, which is togtalkcom and Tog and Talk are separated by a hyphen, so it's tog-talkcom.

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You'll find a place on there like a little button to press and you can actually ask a question just by talking to the website, either on your phone or on a laptop, and your question is recorded and then I get a chance to play those recordings back and, if you're lucky, you may be picked out of millions.

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Now, if you've got a question for us and you don't like the sound of your own voice or you're a little bit nervous, then when you record the message, just say something like please don't use my voice live.

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Can you please read this out instead, and we'll do just that.

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So I don't want to make it difficult for anybody who's got a question, because they might feel a little bit nervous about speaking live on the show.

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It's not live, is it?

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But you know what I mean.

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Okay, now I'm going to put a link in the show notes below because I have a way of providing a shortcut to this recording button so you can record your questions very easily, rather than trying to navigate yourself through the TogTalk website.

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So you just have to click on that link and it will take you to a website page with a button right in the middle and you just click on that and start talking Ever so easy.

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If you get it wrong, by the way, you just do it again, and you can do it as many times as you like until you feel you've got the question right.

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Okay, good, so welcome to Tog Talk again.

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If you're puzzling because this is the first time you've listened, if you're puzzling as to what Tog Talk means Tog Talk.

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If you're puzzling as to what tog talk means tog talk, so tog is an abbreviated kind of slang for photographer.

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If you're a photographer, you can be known as a tog, and obviously tog means we're having a chat, so it's photographers chatting in conversation, and so on and so forth.

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Now, of course, it might just be me chatting and waffling on on my own, or I could be with Kelly, and we certainly plan to have guests.

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We've had guests in the past.

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Good, okay, now, before we go any further, I think this is really interesting.

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Hi, this is Kevin Aaronson and I'd like to invite you to something really quite unique.

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It's called a photographer's evening.

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For the last six years, I have held small in-person roundtable gatherings with local photographers who are new to Hampshire School of Photography.

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The evenings are completely free and they are a great opportunity to talk about photography, share advice and network with other like-minded people.

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These evenings are designed for photographers who are still early in their photography journey those who have never attended before any of our workshops and aren't professional or semi-professional photographers.

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Over the course of the evening we'll dive into various photography topics and you'll have a chance to submit your own photos for review if you'd like.

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It's a relaxed, friendly setting where you can explore your progress, ask questions and gain loads of valuable insight from someone with decades of experience.

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If you're interested, head over to the gohspcom website to learn more.

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I'll post a link in the show notes below.

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Please hang up and try again.

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Yeah, the photographer's evening is a very special thing, which I started about six years ago.

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It's only been called that for a little over a year now.

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It originally was known as a viewfinder and it evolved, and the new format of the photographer's evening is far more interesting for the participants.

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Anyway, I'm going to move on Keith Murrell, who's been one of my long serving students.

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He's been with me for quite some time.

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He's always coming up with questions and he went on to the TogTalk website, pressed the button and spoke into it and he asked this you recently asked what filter should a photographer have in their bag?

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The majority responded a circular polariser.

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Can you give some advice on best use?

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thank you, thanks, keith, for the question.

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Let's see if we can answer this.

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So I probably I'm gonna have to go back to the 1970s to remember my first encounter with polarizers.

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I was working then with olympus om1, olympus OM-1 cameras and later on OM-4s and 35mm.

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Film cameras were much simpler in their technology but particularly when I was shooting with colour transparency, film polarisers were very effective and they were effective at different levels.

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They did a range of things which were helpful in terms of adding something special to the final shot.

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So a polarizer or a polarizing filter A polarizer you can say polarizer if you want to or a polarizing filter I'm not sure polarizer filter is etiquette, but who cares?

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A polarizer I'm going to say a polarizer.

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A polarizer, when fitted to the front of a camera lens, works by selectively filtering out certain orientations of light waves.

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That sounds good, doesn't it?

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Light waves bounce in all directions, but a polarising filter restricts the light that reaches the camera sensor to those light waves which are vibrating in a specific single direction.

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So back in the day, the polariser that we used then was simpler to today's ones because they'd been redesigned to work with today's autofocusing systems and so on.

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But back then they weren't known as circular polarisers.

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They were just polarisers and then, when digital came out, they had to redesign them so that the patterns in the glass were circular rather than horizontal or vertical.

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So a polariser consists of special chemical film embedded into the glass that polarises light by blocking waves that do not align with its structure.

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Gosh, this sounds like a physics lesson at school.

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There are two types, ok, so the linear one, which is what I would use with film, and circular, with digital, and that's the most common one, as I said, because they work better with modern sort of autofocus and metering systems.

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So most polarising filters have a rotating front element which allows you to adjust the degree of the polarization.

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By turning the filter, you can align the filters.

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It's getting more technical.

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Just suck it in, guys.

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If you don't like technical, just suck it and get past this bit, because it's the next bit.

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It's more interesting, okay?

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So by turning the filter, you can align the filter's polarising plane with the desired light angle allowing you to control how much polarised light enters the camera.

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So if you're photographing something, a light is bouncing off in all directions, you can control how much of that light is seen bouncing off by filtering out light waves bouncing off at different angles.

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Oh my God, this is a nightmare.

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Thanks for this question, keith.

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Okay, so now the effects on the scene is very straightforward.

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Filters are particularly effective at reducing reflectors from non-metallic services like water and glass or wet roads.

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Great fish, for if you're down by the beach and you've got little rock pools, you can turn your front element of your polarizer and you can see through the reflections that are on the surface, and if there are any crabs or fish swimming around underneath, you can see those.

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Great for looking in shop windows or if you're taking a picture of someone.

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I did a photo shoot about eight, nine years ago of a girl, a model, who was in a sports car, and of course, the polarising filter enabled me to shoot through the glass or the windscreen of the car so I could see her on the inside.

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Without it, I would just have seen reflections, so that was incredibly useful.

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Okay, so when you would take the filter, it cuts out light reflecting off these services, letting you to see clearly through them to what's the other side.

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But polarers also have a really dramatic impact on the sky.

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They deepen the blue of the sky, they increase the contrast between the sky and the clouds, and this is especially effective when you're shooting at a 90-degree angle to the sun.

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In other words, if you point your camera in a direction of the sun, nothing will really change at all, and the same if you're pointing away from the sun.

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But if you're shooting at right angles to the sun, left or right angles, the effect can be really very dramatic.

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And I remember I remember I was in Rome a few years ago with a very wide-angle lens.

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I was in the Colosseum and I think the lens I was using was a 10 to 24 zoom, and 10 is a very short focal length, but it was on a crop factor camera, so that 10 effectively becomes 15 mil.

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So if I was using a full-frame camera and if you don't know what full-frame cameras are, those are cameras where the sensors are quite big and they're built to replicate the same size as 35 millimeter film negatives.

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Okay, I'm gonna look at any more into that, but basically, if you're shooting with a full frame camera which costs a lot more money.

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The size of the sensor is the same as the 35mm negative.

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So many photographers these days have crop factor sensors which are significantly smaller, and that has an effect of increasing the focal length of any lens that you put on it.

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Now it's actually not increasing the focal length of the lens, it's just giving the appearance of it, and perhaps I'll cover this on another, another session.

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Anyway, what am I getting at here?

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If you put a 10 millimeter focal length on a 1.5 crop factor camera and most crop factor cameras apart from Panasonic and Olympus this is my God, it's getting complicated.

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So if you've got any camera which has got a crop factor sensor in which is not an Olympus or a Panasonic, your crop factor is probably going to be around about 1.5.

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Technically, canon is 1.6, but I'm going to say 1.5 because it's easy to work with as a number.

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Whatever your focal length on your lens is, multiply it by that crop factor and you will get the effective focal length of that lens on that camera.

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I forgot what I was saying there.

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Oh, yes, on that camera.

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I forgot what I was saying there.

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Oh yes, I've got this 24 to 10 millimeter lens on a crop factor camera.

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So at the 10 millimeter end it becomes 15.

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1.5 times 10 equals 15.

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So a 15 millimeter lens and if you were using a expensive full frame camera it would be like putting a 15mm lens on it.

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That's pretty damn wide.

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So I'm shooting in a Colosseum and I've got a circular polariser fitted on the front of my lens.

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The blue sky is wow, dramatic, quite sensational actually, especially how it's increased the contrast between the sky the blue sky, which has now gone dark blue and the clouds in the sky.

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It looks amazing.

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But here was the problem.

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That lens was such a wide lens that it encompassed a huge part of the sky above my head and whilst I was shooting at 90 degrees to the sun, part of the lens captured part of the sky which was not at 90 degrees to the sun but in fact was 180 degrees to the sun.

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So in other words, it was straight ahead of the sun and the end result was part of the sky was really dark and powerful and the other part of the sky was really light and lifeless.

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It just looks weird.

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So you've got this beautiful sky, you've got these incredible clouds, but part of the sky is dark and part of the sky is light, and this is purely because I'm using a really wide-angle lens and I've got more than just a 90-degree view of the sky Sorry, 90 degrees from the sun.

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So shoot towards the sun.

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Nothing happens.

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Shoot away from the sun nothing happens Shoot at 90 degrees to the sun wow.

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So the trick is just to be careful with your focal lengths when you're trying to get an extraordinary blue sky.

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If you go too wide, you could potentially have problems.

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Nothing, if I'm honest, you probably couldn't solve in post-processing, but it's just creating more work.

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Nevertheless, if you fit a polarizer to your camera, your skies will look absolutely stunning.

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If you look through holiday brochures where they've been taken on a resort somewhere and it's beautiful blue skies and blue seas and palm trees and all that, they will have used a polariser.

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So anyone who shoots holiday photos, whether it's commercially or whether for just their own family's use, if they use a polariser, it will just.

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It's banging, it's so cool, the sky looks incredible and of course, if you've got any kind of reflective service, it's going to reduce those reflections.

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So if you're shooting down by the sea and you've got waves crashing against rocks, the rocks aren't going to look quite so shiny and glistening.

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Some of that glistening effect glistening, that's a word some of that glistening effect is going is going to dissipate and you're going to see a much more matte type finish to the rocks and in some ways that's quite attractive because you can see more texture in the rocks in other ways maybe it takes takes some of the sexiness out of the moment.

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Some of that reflection, some of that shine might be attractive.

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So you make a judgment call as a photographer.

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It's subjective, there's no right or wrong here.

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But of course, if you use a polariser on human skin and the person you're photographing has very oily skin, you can reduce the impact of some of that sheen.

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Well, there's a word I don't use very often sheen.

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So their face may have a sheen.

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Quite often if you're photographing someone and they do have oily skin, you're going to get these, what is known as specular highlights, where part of the skin might be the tip of the nose or the forehead, maybe the cheeks or the chin um reflect the light back and you get these bright highlights on the face which you may well have to get rid of in in post processing.

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Perhaps I'll do a video video on that, because that's quite an easy one to deal with.

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But nevertheless, you can't predict if someone is going to give you that kind of problem until you look at it afterwards.

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You know if you're out with the holiday and you're taking pictures of the kids or the missus or sorry.

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If you're a lady, you're a gentleman.

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Okay, if you're young and a gentleman and you take a picture and it's a really hot day, you've had a fantastic day on holiday, but of course they're sweating.

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If you're a lady, you're perspiring.

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If you're a man, you're sweating.

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I don't care if this is old-fashioned and it's not politically correct.

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Who cares?

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There are more important things in life, okay, seriously.

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So if you're a lady, you're perspiring, as far as I'm concerned.

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And if you're a gentleman, you are sweating.

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And if you've got beads of sweat running down your face and down the tip of your nose and you've got all these shiny bits, a polariser will help reduce that.

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It will help reduce the appearance of it, the shiny bits.

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Now, landscape photographers asked and I've seen these surveys before.

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100 landscape photographers were asked what's the most common filter that you use?

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And they will say polarizer.

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It's.

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For some photographers it stays on the camera the whole time because it means they can control so much of the shot.

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They cannot only control what the skies look like, but they can control reflections.

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And if you're an architectural photographer or even a street photographer.

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You can control the reflections in a window, so polarisers, good fun.

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Now there's a disadvantage, of course, to polarisers, apart from the cost, because it can be quite expensive, but there are loads of cheap Chinese alternatives.

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I tend not to.

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To be honest, I tend to want to support local manufacturers in the UK, so I am prepared to spend more and I will pay significantly more if it's supporting a UK company.

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But that's, me.

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You know, up to you, everyone's got their own thing.

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What was I going to say?

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I forgot what I was going to say.

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Now, oh yeah, I was talking about disadvantages, wasn't I?

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So, apart from the cost, one more thing to carry, of course, unless you leave it permanently on the lens.

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But here's a disadvantage that you do need to think about.

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They will reduce the amount of light going into the lens.

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You could lose somewhere between one to two stops of light, and that might be crucial for whatever it is you're photographing.

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You may need as much light as possible.

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You may need to be able to shoot at a fast shutter speed because you're trying to freeze some action, and, of course, fast shutter speeds reduce the light going in as well.

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So all these things have to be considered, and you may have to play around with apertures and maybe iso to get the the shot you finally want.

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But you certainly need to bear in mind that polarisers will affect the light, and then you need to think about what type, in terms of how it fits to your lens.

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Now I think that most people will probably think oh, it's going to screw on the front, and for a lot of people, that's what they buy?

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They buy screw-mounted polarisers.

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So you see what the filter diameter is for your lens, which is normally indicated on the lens barrel.

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And if you're not sure where that is, look on the inside of your lens, where you've got that little writing, normally etched in white, and there will be a number in millimeter which follows behind a greek symbol, I think it's called theta.

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It's like a circle with a line running through it and at that sign this is the lens filter diameter.

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So if it's 72 millimeters, for instance, you buy a 72mm diameter filter and that screws into the 70mm diameter thread on your lens.

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The disadvantage of that system was for me it's the most convenient, most portable and most user-friendly is that if you want it on a number of lenses and each lens has a different filter size, you've got to buy a filter for each one of those lenses and that can run up a few bob.

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That can run up a few bob.

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I'm fortunate that when I go out and do landscape photography I only take two lenses.

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This is one of the rare occasions when I shoot with zooms a lot, because generally I don't shoot zooms at all.

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I'm a prime man and you know there's that old-fashioned thing any lens will zoom.

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If you use your feet you can get closer or further away.

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But I tend to work with prime lenses because they're smaller, more portable, they open up to wider aperture, I can shoot in darker situations.

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Da-da-da-da-da.

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I prefer them.

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Some people prefer zooms because you can stand in one place and rather lazily I will say in a very judgmental way compose the image by just zooming backwards and forwards.

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I think there's something lost in the compositional moment when you're zooming like that.

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For me it's far more interesting and creatively more satisfying to just move around with the camera.

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Anyway, I'm not saying one is more right than the other, it's just what suits me.

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I remember before lockdown I had something like 16 lenses.

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I sold a few during lockdown because it was lean times and there was no income coming in, so we had to sell a few lenses and a couple of camera bodies.

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But before then I had 16 lenses, only three of which were zooms, so 13 were prime lenses.

00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:38.513
So I rate the prime lens and there's no right or wrong.

00:23:38.513 --> 00:23:38.915
It's what suits you.

00:23:38.915 --> 00:23:41.383
So you know you don't have to make excuses saying, yeah, but I prefer zo.

00:23:41.383 --> 00:23:42.467
Wrong, it's what suits you.

00:23:42.467 --> 00:23:46.273
So you know you don't have to make excuses saying yeah, but I prefer zooms.

00:23:46.273 --> 00:23:47.920
That's fine, that's fine.

00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:49.434
I don't.

00:23:50.871 --> 00:23:57.079
Having said that, when I'm going out shooting landscape I only take two lenses with me and they are both zooms.

00:23:57.079 --> 00:23:59.676
Now, there's a really good reason for that.

00:23:59.676 --> 00:24:17.819
I know we're going off topic here, but you might find this interesting to just think about If you're out shooting a landscape and what you want to capture cannot be reached with any kind of prime lens, because you can't move closer because there's a river in the way, or you can't move further away because there's a motorway behind you.

00:24:17.819 --> 00:24:30.039
Sometimes you simply cannot walk closer to the shot to get the the framing that you want, or you can't walk further step back for the same reason.

00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:35.497
Having a zoom means that wherever you are, you can frame the picture the way you want.

00:24:35.497 --> 00:24:45.878
So I just take out two lenses and because I shoot with a 1.5 crop, I do have full-frame cameras, but they're DSLRs.

00:24:45.878 --> 00:24:49.711
My mirrorless are all 1.5, and I'm not going to change that For me.

00:24:49.711 --> 00:24:51.258
I get all the pictures I want with.

00:24:51.258 --> 00:24:57.000
That Saves me a load of money and everything is so much lighter to carry.

00:24:58.411 --> 00:24:59.878
Anyway, that's another story.

00:24:59.878 --> 00:25:01.336
I'm not going to go into that argument.

00:25:01.336 --> 00:25:07.134
Oh God, I've forgotten what I was going to say.

00:25:07.134 --> 00:25:12.162
Um, yes, so my two lenses are the other 10 to 24, which I've already mentioned.

00:25:12.162 --> 00:25:14.411
So that's super wide to wide.

00:25:14.411 --> 00:25:18.296
So that's equivalent to 15 to about 35 on a four frame camera.

00:25:18.296 --> 00:25:19.637
Okay, pretty good range.

00:25:19.637 --> 00:25:34.023
And then the other one is a 50 to 140, which is equivalent to somewhere around about 82 to 205, 210, somewhere around there.

00:25:34.023 --> 00:25:43.884
So it's a bit like um having a six, a 15 to 35 and a 70-200 on a 4-frame camera.

00:25:43.884 --> 00:25:50.159
If you've got 4-frame, 70-200 is like a go-to lens for everybody who wants to get a 70-200.

00:25:50.159 --> 00:26:02.663
It's possibly the most loved focal length of zooms on the planet because it's so versatile and they tend to be relatively low weight.

00:26:02.663 --> 00:26:04.115
You know, there's not a big lens.

00:26:04.115 --> 00:26:29.865
Most of them now are f2.8, which is a wide aperture, so you can shoot in relatively low light pretty good, although some of them have f4 versions, it's true, at a reduced price, because I'm only shooting from 10-24mm and 50-140mm focal lengths.

00:26:31.163 --> 00:26:34.398
Two lenses, that's all I have to take with me.

00:26:34.398 --> 00:26:36.796
One's on the camera, the other one's in my bag.

00:26:36.796 --> 00:26:46.739
Two lenses and here's the beauty of it they both have the same size filter thread, so any filter that I'm using on one.

00:26:46.739 --> 00:26:56.730
If I decide to change the lenses, I don't have to buy any other gadgets, any other conversion kit stuff, you know, so I can use that filter on a different lens.

00:26:56.730 --> 00:27:00.942
I don't have to buy two sets of polarisers.

00:27:00.942 --> 00:27:08.000
As I take one lens off the camera, I just transfer the filter from that lens onto the one I'm now going to use.

00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:12.422
So two lenses for all my stuff and one filter.

00:27:12.422 --> 00:27:29.111
Cheap, convenient, lightweight, perfect, perfect, okay.

00:27:29.111 --> 00:27:29.531
So that's that's.

00:27:29.531 --> 00:27:32.119
That's one option to have a filter which screws on a circular looking filter which screws on the front of your lens.

00:27:32.140 --> 00:27:41.162
The other option and these are immensely popular and I have these as well is to have a kit system for your filters.

00:27:41.162 --> 00:27:51.538
So the chances are that you're going to want other filters as you progress in your photography, and we're not going to get into the different types of filters now, but you know you could have quite a few.

00:27:51.538 --> 00:27:55.180
I've probably got about 12 to 15 filters.

00:27:55.180 --> 00:27:57.617
Might be more, might be more.

00:27:57.617 --> 00:28:14.637
And if I bought them all as screwing on the front filter on a screwing on the front of the lens filters, um geez, this is going to get ridiculously expensive, especially if I want to use the filters on other lenses.

00:28:15.740 --> 00:28:37.726
And um, a kit system or a system kit or a filter system, whatever you want to call it means that you buy a holder in which the filters slide in and out of and an adapter ring for any particular lens.

00:28:37.726 --> 00:28:47.858
So you could if you've got three or four lenses, you could buy an adapter ring, so each lens has an adapter ring fitted to it and these tend to be modestly priced.

00:28:47.858 --> 00:28:56.022
And then you have one filter holder or filter carrier and it will fit onto any lens which has got that adapter on.

00:28:56.022 --> 00:28:58.457
So if you've got four lenses, all with a little adapter on.

00:28:58.457 --> 00:29:16.289
This filter holder now will actually bolt onto any of your lenses and then you buy one set of filters and they slide in and out of that carrier, the thing that sits in front of your lens and you can buy polarizing filters which slot into these.

00:29:16.289 --> 00:29:23.616
They still rotate, but they're within this carrier system and effectively you've bought into a system made by a single manufacturer and they like that.

00:29:23.616 --> 00:29:36.103
Effectively you've bought into a system made by a single manufacturer and they like that, because once you've bought into their system you've got to buy all your filters through them and this one carrier can hold maybe three, possibly four different filters at once.

00:29:36.490 --> 00:29:55.318
So you could have one filter for polarizing, one for darkening the sky, one filter for polarising, one for darkening the sky, one for reducing the amount of light coming in, so you can shoot at really low shutter speeds to get that sort of soft, creamy-looking water as the waves go backwards and forwards on the sea.

00:29:55.318 --> 00:30:02.116
So you can have multiple filters used simultaneously and I guess the best-known ones.

00:30:02.116 --> 00:30:31.059
Well, certainly since the 70s I would have used Coquin C-O-K-I-N Coquin, which are a French company, and I still got those for my film cameras and today, I suspect I'm fairly accurate if I say the King, the one which is used by the professionals mostly not always but the one at the top of the, is it the food chain.

00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:38.413
The alpha male of filters will be the system produced by Lee Bush's company.

00:30:38.413 --> 00:30:40.913
Yes, yes, l-e-e.

00:30:40.913 --> 00:30:52.699
Lee and Lee make not just filters for steel cameras, but they're probably more well-known for the production of filters for the cinema industry, hollywood and so on.

00:30:52.699 --> 00:30:54.712
So, anyway.

00:30:54.732 --> 00:31:03.179
You can buy a Li system which is going to cost you hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds if you have an extensive kit, and then there's all the Chinese alternatives.

00:31:03.179 --> 00:31:04.855
So you pay your money.

00:31:04.855 --> 00:31:05.637
You take a choice.

00:31:05.637 --> 00:31:11.376
Li is glass, it's high quality, it's respected, it's highly proven.

00:31:11.376 --> 00:31:22.941
They're innovative and you probably are paying a bit for the name and you probably are paying for the fact they're made in the UK and not, with lower labour costs, in China.

00:31:22.941 --> 00:31:25.435
But again, you pay your money.

00:31:25.435 --> 00:31:26.097
It takes a choice.

00:31:26.097 --> 00:31:33.198
So you can have a system which slots in all your filters, including your polariser, or you could just buy a polariser.

00:31:33.431 --> 00:31:33.912
I have both.

00:31:33.912 --> 00:31:47.738
I have both and I find, if I'm out on my own and I'm doing a little bit of maybe some holiday photography or I'm just out, I'm not trying to do anything particularly creative.

00:31:47.738 --> 00:32:02.660
I'm not trying for any special artistic landscape photography effects, just the polarizer, which is a screw, one fitted on the front of the lens which can change between my two zooms, is all I need.

00:32:02.660 --> 00:32:05.772
Gosh, this has been a long session.

00:32:05.772 --> 00:32:08.159
I've no idea how long this is going to last.

00:32:08.159 --> 00:32:12.736
But thank you, keith, so much for asking that question.

00:32:12.736 --> 00:32:15.059
A simple question a polariser, cpl?

00:32:15.059 --> 00:32:17.044
When do you use it?

00:32:17.044 --> 00:32:17.852
Why carry it?

00:32:17.852 --> 00:32:18.874
Well, now you know.

00:32:19.635 --> 00:32:31.136
Hi everyone, it's Kevin's Kevin Aronson and I want to tell you about some exciting changes I've made to the photography masterclass, my in-person course that's been helping photographers grow since 2019.

00:32:31.136 --> 00:32:35.050
Yep, this is an in-person course in a classroom, with me face to face.

00:32:35.050 --> 00:32:36.574
This is not online.

00:32:36.574 --> 00:32:44.526
As we approach our 10th intake in January, I've made some significant changes to celebrate this milestone.

00:32:44.526 --> 00:32:48.619
This masterclass goes beyond just technical skills.

00:32:48.619 --> 00:32:51.910
It's about learning to see the world as a photographer.

00:32:51.910 --> 00:33:01.184
I've shifted the focus to give even more attention to creativity, with three entire modules dedicated to developing your photographer's eye.

00:33:01.184 --> 00:33:04.836
Entire modules dedicated to developing your photographer's eye.

00:33:04.836 --> 00:33:09.290
I retained the more popular modules on shooting landscapes, photographing people, and there's a new one on black and white photography.

00:33:10.053 --> 00:33:13.137
This masterclass is more than just a course.

00:33:13.137 --> 00:33:22.923
It's a creative one-year journey you'll share with other passionate photographers, growing together and forming lasting connections along the way.

00:33:22.923 --> 00:33:24.471
Need more information?

00:33:24.471 --> 00:33:30.023
Visit GoHSPcom, click on courses and select Masterclass.

00:33:30.023 --> 00:33:33.616
I'll also provide a link in the show notes below.

00:33:33.616 --> 00:33:38.833
I'm going to get bored of saying I'm going to post a link in the show notes below.

00:33:38.833 --> 00:33:40.375
I've got to find another way of saying that.

00:33:40.375 --> 00:33:45.325
So Masterclass is my greatest success story.

00:33:45.325 --> 00:33:47.055
This is number 10.

00:33:47.055 --> 00:33:49.478
So it's a one-year course.

00:33:49.478 --> 00:33:54.355
We've been running this since the beginning of 2019, on average two a year.

00:33:54.355 --> 00:33:59.796
It's a one-year course If you're new at photography, if your brain's spanking new.

00:34:00.030 --> 00:34:01.376
If you've been doing it a while.

00:34:01.376 --> 00:34:04.634
If you've got a camera you're not really sure how to use it.

00:34:04.634 --> 00:34:07.239
If you're frustrated by your own progress.

00:34:07.239 --> 00:34:27.480
Masterclass is there for all of you because it not only takes us all back to the very building blocks, the foundation of our photography, but it then focuses on those key, most popular areas of photography that people want to excel at taking pictures in landscape and taking pictures of people.

00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:31.300
There's a whole module on editing with Photoshop and Lightroom.

00:34:31.300 --> 00:34:42.989
There's a black and white module and, of course, three complete separate modules, all looking at different aspects of composition, and using your photographer's eye is a game changer.

00:34:43.451 --> 00:34:48.443
So, to celebrate the 10 years, as the advert says, decided to make a change.

00:34:48.443 --> 00:35:03.443
So I did a survey in the Hampshire Photography Network, which is our free Facebook group, and by far the biggest number of votes were for yes, we'd like to know more about getting better at shooting creative images.

00:35:03.443 --> 00:35:06.875
So the course starts in january.

00:35:06.875 --> 00:35:11.815
It's going to be on sundays, running from 10 30 in the morning until 2 pm three and a half hours.

00:35:11.815 --> 00:35:15.869
There'll be assignments in between which will be expected to complete.

00:35:15.869 --> 00:35:21.570
You'll have our own whatsapp group for members where you can interact and ask each other questions.

00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:30.675
I'm there occasionally to maybe run a video to explain stuff which people got confused over or just to dig deeper into some of the subjects.

00:35:30.675 --> 00:35:41.661
Looking after my master classes now during the year between sessions is every bit as important to me as it is during the teaching sessions themselves.

00:35:41.661 --> 00:35:42.842
So is it?

00:35:42.842 --> 00:35:51.034
It is by far the best thing I do, and so many people have been through it and become great friends of mine and great friends of each other.

00:35:52.077 --> 00:35:53.340
Okay, we're coming towards the end.

00:35:53.340 --> 00:35:55.172
Now, if you've got a question, you know what to do.

00:35:55.172 --> 00:35:56.679
You're going to click on the link below.

00:35:56.679 --> 00:35:58.489
Click on the button and record your question.

00:35:58.489 --> 00:36:02.842
We need that now, within the next week, so please do not hesitate.

00:36:02.842 --> 00:36:05.115
Spread the word about Tog Talk.

00:36:05.115 --> 00:36:14.657
I assume we'll get lots of people listening to it, and I guess it's that time when I say thank you so much for listening.

00:36:14.657 --> 00:36:21.117
Have a wonderful week, take lots of pictures, happy snapping.