Polariser

[jomar]

G'day,

I have just had printed my first images 10"x15", boy am I impressed, however the two shots taken with the polariser are flat, loss of contrast and color saturation, any ideas???

Thanks
Joe

PS this is a great site,due to such good input from so many

[memobug]

Used in the right environment, polarizers can improve the saturation and contrast of an image. Polarizers work best when you are shooting at 90 degrees to the light source. Circular polarizers are preferred because they do not interfere with the camera's metering system as some linear-polarized filters may.

If the polarizer is an inexpensive one, it might not be multicoated, which can create problems by adding additional reflective surfaces, especially since each one has two pieces of glass. This can lead to loss in contrast and dull images. If there is no reason to shoot with the polarizer (no reflections or glare from shiny surfaces or indoors) don't use it!

Experiment with the adjustment of the polarizer by pointing it at an open patch of sky or reflective surface (wall, glass or concrete) and rotate the polarizer until you see an improvement in saturation and scene contrast.

Polarizers used on very wide angle lenses can cause uneven coloring to the sky because the portions are at the optimal 90 degree angle, and other portions are not. This is not so often a problem with our 1.5x digicam's, because of their limited field of view.

Hope this helps,

Matt

[jomar]

Thanks for quick reply matt,

I used the polarizer to bring out the color in sea which was in the background and it did that.

The sun was near enough 90 degrees
It is fully coated

Arrow brand sells for $60 Australian, or about $30 US

So I can't make it out, I will do a number of shots with and without to see how consistant the problem is.
??????????

Thanks
Joe

[memobug]

That (USD $30) does not sound like a multicoated price. It may be single coated, at least. In any case, be careful not to let the sun fall on the lens or filters.

Regards,

Matt

[jknights]

Have you checked if the polariser is Circular or Linear.

Linear polariser will give underexposed results (1-2 stops).
This sounds like you problem as the image will look dull/flat/lower in contrast.

[jomar]

Sorry Guy's,
The box reads circular
Thanks
Joe

[jknights]

Hmmm - Strange
Might be good to post an image

[jomar]

Thanks for the feed back, but I have found the problem.
The prints were produced by our local digital lab. On inspecting the back of the prints,from the printing info found there, I could see that these two images had a substantial amount of more density applied than the other 5 that I had done.
I went back and asked for prints to be redone with the density backed off and the results were excellent.
It just so happened that these two shots had been shot with the polorizer.
The digital facility of the lab had only been operating one week and the operators did not recognise the problem until I provided the comparison.