Polarizers and reef tanks

[Paul]

Do any of you people shoot your tanks with polarizers on? I don't have a tank to play with, but you could cut out glass glare when shooting through and also see through the water better when shooting from the top.

Just a thought.

[clippo]

helps a bit but the reduction in light entering the camera causes its own problems.

[Paul]

helps a bit but the reduction in light entering the camera causes its own problems.

yeah i was thinking that too, But under halides, is that really that much of a problem? I guess if you are trying to get mobile inhabitants it is (fish etc) the sessile stuff, you can just crank the shutter speed down.

[clippo]

if you can hold it steady enough, or use a tripod then static stuff possibly. I doubt it would be effective enough to remove the reflections caused by an intense light such as a halide completely though. Try it!

[Paul]

if you can hold it steady enough, or use a tripod then static stuff possibly. I doubt it would be effective enough to remove the reflections caused by an intense light such as a halide completely though. Try it!

I don't have a tank anymore :(

[Aleela]

if you can hold it steady enough, or use a tripod then static stuff possibly. I doubt it would be effective enough to remove the reflections caused by an intense light such as a halide completely though. Try it!

Polarizers are only effective when shooting reflective materials such as car panels water surface (at an angle from above) they will reduce glare, but you will not cut out effects from the lighting, you may veery well reduce them, but as with metal reflections, you need to be shooting from an angle. I thought i was clever when i set my tank up, i installed mirrors on both sides, ooopppsss, so no matter where it try hooting from i invariably get reflections bouncing off them. if in doubt, test the teory with a pair of Polaroid sunglsses, same principle will apply, hope that does not bore, but inform. Alex

[Nath]

Yup, polarisers work best when at 90 degrees to the light source. So, if the light source is behind the camera you won't cut out much of the glare as it's almost perpendicular to the plane of the polariser anyway.

One tip with a polariser (for anyone who has just bought one) is that they can sometimes be difficult to work out when they're working. Try playing with one in front of an LCD screen and you'll see the effect DRAMATICALLY ;)

[Reef bloke]

I personally never use filters,i always worry they degrade IQ

[Nath]

Well, technically they all do, but if you make sure you always use multicoated versions then you'll be fine.

Lets face it though, using a polariser isn't an effect you can reproduce in photoshop and the benefits can far outweigh the miniscule image degradation they cause. I'd also recommend a decent set of ND grad's for landscape shots.