How to Use a Polarizing Filter

The polarizing filter is an essential part of the landscape photographer’s tool kit. It can make a huge difference to the final photo. However, there are a few things to be aware of.

In my latest video, I visit the oldest the town in Denmark. Here I wanted to photograph the cathedral towering up above the small houses. I went there during a morning with a lot of haze in the air. With the sun 90 degrees to the scene I knew a polarizing filter would work great. I even used it on my drone photos. In the video, I share several other examples of how and where you can use a polarizing filter.

One extra tip to share is knowing when to use a polarizer. An example of this could be photographing a stream of water in a relatively dark environment. Would it be beneficial to cut out the polarized light (glare) on the water? What would the effect be? If you want to show the stream, I would argue not to use the polarizing filter. Using the filter would darken the stream and as the environment around the stream is already dark, the stream would end up having the same brightness as the environment thus making it harder to see it.

Check out the video above. Do you have more examples of when to use a polarizing filter? Let me know in the comments.

Mads Peter Iversen's picture

Danish Fine Art Landscape Photographer and YouTuber. He is taking photos all over the world but the main focus is the cold, rough, northern part of Europe. His style is somewhere in between dramatic and colorful fantasy and Scandinavian minimalism. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel for epic landscape photography videos from around the world.

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3 Comments

I have that benro tripod. what aftermarket attachments have you used ?

Looks like he's using the DigitalFoto Solution Limited L-Bracket and Peak Design clip. And then another Arc type clip on the foot of his tele.

Smallrig L-bracket and Peak Design Clip :)