Last week, in the first instalment of this post, I talked about some of the essential gear for a landscape photographer, focusing on tripods, ballheads and gradient neutral density filters. Today, I am going to continue on with a focus on some additional filters and remote releases.

Before I delve into the crux of the matter, I would like to remind you that I have teamed up with Ottawa photography Garry Black to offer two new workshops this summer. Please visit our workshop page to learn more.

4- Polarizing filters

This is undoubtedly one of the most useful tools in my kit. I never go anywhere without it. The polarizer is probably one of the only filters whose actions cannot be replicated in post-processing: you simply can’t fake it, you either use it in the field or basta. So what is it used for, you say? Well, the uses are multiple. The polarizer basically removes glare and reflections off glass-like surfaces. It is extremely useful when shooting reflections on lakes for example. Pushing the polarizer to one side allows you to see through the water and see beneath the surface. Pushing the other way, does the complete opposite and allows you to get a fantastic mirror reflection. Polarizers are extremely useful when shooting waterfalls, as they cut the glare off the wet rocks allowing you to make them pop in the scene. I also use them to really make the colours pop in a forest scene as they eliminate the sheen on the foliage. Last but not least, polarizers can make the sky colour pop like nobody’s business. I find this most striking in mountain areas, where the sky can almost turn black when you maximise the polarization. Now with this last bit, one has to be careful not to push it too much when using wide-angle lenses. Since polarization is not uniform across the sky and your wide angle-lens covers a very large angle of view, you end up with an unpleasant dark spot in the middle of your sky.

Maximise your reflections with a polarizer (polarizing filter)

While polarizing filters come in square (non screw-in) versions, I exclusively use the round screw-in type. While there are several brands of filters out there, I would recommend to stick with one of the following brands; and none of them come cheap…now come to think of it, my polarizer isn’t either of these brands…(I use a Nikon brand polarizer, which works really well, but I am not sure how available they are on the market, so I will concentrate on the following): Singh Ray, B+W and Hoya; and the Rolls Royce of glass filters: Heliopan. Rest assured that whichever one you get, you will pay through the nose (I use 77mm filter sizes, never cheap), but you can also rest assured that you will get your money’s worth. Guaranteed. Here again, get the best you can afford: remember that you didn’t spend thousands of dollars to get that super lens just to put a cheap piece of plastic or glass in front of it…

5- Neutral Density Filters

These are not to be confused with the Neutral Density Gradient filters. ND filters, are uniformly dark filters whose purpose is to bring down the amount of light hitting your sensor. These are used to increase your exposure time, which can come in handy when you want to capture motion over a long period of time (in water or clouds for example) or when there is too much light available and you need to slow down your shutter speed for a given use. These filters come in various flavours ranging from the 1-stop (cutting light by one half, therefore doubling your shutter speed), to the 10-stop variety (cutting light by a whopping 1024 times!). There are plenty of manufacturers offering the 1-3 stop ND filters (including the usual suspects), but to my knowledge, only Hoya, B+W and Singh-Ray offer filters going beyond the 6 stop mark. Singh-Ray has the added particularity in that they offer a variable ND filter, where you can alter the amount of light getting through from 2 to 8 stops! While that comes at a premium, it is certainly a very valuable tool.

Using an ND filter allows you to lengthen your shutter speed in bright daylight

6- Remote Releases

This one is seldom mentioned, yet is quite a critical component of my workflow in the field. The very reason we invest in the best tripod, ballhead, camera and lens combos is that we are looking for the ultimate in image quality and sharpness. All of that would really come to naught if you didn’t care in your picture taking techniques. An overlooked aspect of it all is that pressing the shutter release introduces so much vibrations that it can really negate all the benefits of your awesome gear. To palliate that, you need to hook up your camera to a remote release, be it cable, infrared or radio (all camera manufacturers have brand-specific releases, there are also several third-party alternatives). These remotes allow you (particularly when combined with the mirror-lock-up function of your camera) to quietly and smoothly release your shutter with minimal disturbances, ensuring maximal sharpness.

Voila! I hope you have enjoyed reading this. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to post them in the comments section or to email me directly!