Which photo filters are absolutly "necessary"

[lostwon]

I want to take my photos to the next level and Id like to do so with as little help from photoshop as necessary. Are there any filters (or any other gear for that matter) that every photographer should have? Are square filters any better/different from round filters?

Thanks, novice

[romanaa]

Hello,
I am waiting for answers to your question wondering whether and what any expert would write about this topic.

I have bought my first filter last year - it is a circular polariser and I have fell in love with it... when used in good angle to sun rays it makes a dramatic change when you take a picture of a cloudy sky, making the clouds more visible, giving them the texture and contrast, it also makes the sky more blue...

eg.
http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=3&p=885816


When taking a shot of the lake it keeps some of the reflections away and you can see some underwater details.

eg.
http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=3&p=1204888

I have only this one, but I hope this would help you and I am eager to learn more from other answers.

Best regards

Romana

[henroben]

In my experience the following filters are pretty essential in that they can't really be duplicated in post production using photoshop. Whether or not you'll find them essential to own depends very much on what you like photographing...

Polarizing Filter
Useful for cutting out polarized light - can remove reflections from glass, water etc. and increase colour saturation & contrast of a shot.

Neutral Density Filter
A dark filter - used to extend the exposure time, useful for long exposure shots. Basically limits the light entering the lens, available in a variety of strengths (3 stop, 6 stop etc.).

Graduated Neutral Density Filters
Dark at one end and clear at the other, with either a hard transition between the two or a soft one. Used a lot for landscape photography as they allow you to balance the exposure for a bright sky and a darker land. Available in different strengths (1 stop, 2 stop etc.) and can be combined.

InfraRed Filter
Blocks visible light, only allowing in infrared or near infrared light. Tends to require very long exposures and people tend to either love or hate the image result.

You can get filters that screw to the end of the lens, but personally I much prefer the flexiblity that the seperate holder/square filters give you.

The polarizer, netural density and infrared filters could all be useable as a screw in filter, but in my experience if you're using neutral density graduated filters you have to have them as seperate filters in a holder so you can adjust them seperate to the lens and so you can stack several if needed.

Hope this is of some help, if you want to see some examples of ND grads in action pretty much every landscape shot in my portfolio has been taken using them ;-)

[npecanhuk]

Hi There,
Those last pieces of information were quite helpful... I took note of it and they might help me in NYC in early september!
Thank you very much for the contributor!
Cheers,
Neyvan

[grandula]

for myself ( i like capture landscape)
i use filter :
1. CPL (circular polarizer)
2. GND (graduate natural density) 0.6 and 0.9
3. ND (natural density) 10 stop

[Didi]

The best photo filter is the UV
He protect your lens from dust and rain
I use Adobe Photo Element for grad filters in post processing and the result looks natural