Porthtowan & St Agnes Head - Photography Week 22 (2016)

The link between the latest photographic equipment and better results is debatable. Either way the list is always longer than the pocket!

My latest acquisition is a Lee 105mm circular landscape polarising filter. The purchase was the result of an analysis of the last 6 to 8 months of coastal photography in Cornwall and my desire to control as many of the conditions at the point of capture. The idea is to manage the amount of reflected light from the sea by reducing glare and deepening the colours: an effect that can't be wholly replicated using software applications.


To test the polariser, I took a selection of images on the beach at Porthtowan in bright conditions. To get the best from the filter the shots were taken along the beach and broadly at 90% to the light source. I was able to virtually eradicate the white light (or glare) from wet rocks, include or exclude cloud reflections, and deepen colours in the cliffs and the blue sky (1):

Like any new piece of equipment it takes a little time to adjust the workflow and maximise the benefits. During my second outing I noticed that the polariser was able to cut through some of the haze further along the coast from St Agnes Head but in doing so there was a noticeably uneven polarisation of the sky with a darker blue patch appearing in the centre of the frame. Rotating the filter corrected this but I can see is something to look out for on future occasions:

All my pre-reading about polarising filters (2) stated that the effect does not work when shooting into the light. I tried this on both outings and sure enough the impact of the filter was almost negligible. I noticed only a slight change to the light trails across the sea and in the foreground reflections:

(1) For anyone unaccustomed to polarising light, it works by rotating the filter which is fixed either to the lens or a filter holder. The Lee system requires the additional purchase of a circular holder which attaches to the Lee filter frame. The relative large size of the filter (105mm) is required to prevent vignetting and it works comfortably with a wide angle 17mm lens. As the filter is rotated the polarisation becomes more or less pronounced.

(2) My pre-reading on polarisers included this very informative article by Cambridge in Colour.