The Visual Toolbox: 60 Lessons for Stronger Photographs

Lesson 54. Understand Optical Filters

A lot of tools are available that can change the way you make photographs and the way your photographs look. Flash is one of them, but you won’t find me teaching about it for two reasons. The first is that I don’t use flash myself. It’s just a preference, so teaching how to use it would be hypocritical of me. The second reason is that others can, and do, teach about flash lighting—Joe McNally and Syl Arena being among the most qualified I can think of—and I’d rather defer to them. So if portraits and artificial lighting are your thing, then consider this your permission to go on a field trip. I think understanding this lesson about optical filters is still important, but it does apply most specifically to ...