The wonders of winter photography tutorial | Winter filters
It’s possible to carry out lots of photo manipulation after you’ve taken a shot, but it’s not the best answer. If a photo has an overexposed, washed out sky for example, there’s nothing you can do to restore it. One solution is to use a graduated filter to keep skies under control without leaving the foreground underexposed.
Originally designed for film cameras, such filters are just as useful for digital camera owners.
Filter company Cokin produces a digital filter kit that attaches to most digital cameras via the tripod bush.
These filters are perfect for winter where the light is more sharply angled and you could be at risk of overexposing your shot.
Here are our top tips for great winter filters:
• Grey graduates: Useful for keeping bright skies under control
• Tobacco graduate or ‘sunset’: Darkens bright skies and injects colour into dull, overcast conditions
• Star filter: Adds zest to city night-time shots
• Warm-up filter: Adds a warm tone to cold winter scenes and saves trying to ‘fiddle’ results with white balance
• Pastel/ diffuser/ fog filter: Useful for adding a misty atmosphere to otherwise bland shots
Take the Diploma in Photography to learn more about filters.