Digital SLR Photography All-in-One For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 5

Using Filters

IN THIS CHAPTER

Finding out about filters

Deciding on a filter system

Browsing filter types

Digital photographers have access to more advanced computer technology than ever before. That’s a great thing. It has opened up creative options that everyone can use. Filters, however, are physical things. They’re real. You can hold them in your hand. They clink musically and take up space in your camera bag. When light passes through them, something physical — not modeled, simulated, or programmed — happens to the light. I don't know about you, but that fascinates me. I want to know more.

Learning about Filters

Standing in front of a large filter display in a camera shop or going online and browsing can be highly intimidating. Questions course through your gray matter. What are these gizmos? How do they work? Should I bother? Which ones are best for me?

Looking at how filters work

Filters (sometimes called optical or physical filters) work by literally getting in the way. You stick filters on the front of or in your lens (see Figure 5-1) so that light from the outside world has to pass through on its way to the camera's image sensor — simple stuff. As light passes ...