Top Most Popular Camera Filters Explained

Camera Filters

Using camera filters can be a great way to enhance your photos or create special effects.  Whether you want to create a more natural looking photo with true colors, enhance contrast, remove haze, eliminate reflections, reduce purple fringing, soften images, or add creative effects such as sepia images, mirror images and more, there’s a filter for virtually anything you can think of!

Knowing which filter to use for the right conditions can be confusing. 

Let’s take a look at the top most popular camera filters and the effects that can be achieved with them to enhance your photos:

Polarizing Filters

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We all know that light bounces and reflects off things.  In this respect, when light hits something, it reflects back the color of the object it has hit.  It will then hit another object in the color it’s reflected.  These light waves hit your camera from all directions, giving your subjects un-true colors.

A polarizing filter added to your camera will only allow light to pass in one direction and is effective for:

·         Removing haze.

·         Eliminating reflections from water or glass.

·         Reducing glare.

·         Enhancing color saturation and contrast.

Ever wondered how those deep blue skies on the picture postcards have been achieved?  A polarizing camera filter will help you to get those great colors in your pictures too.

Ultraviolet Filters


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Ultraviolet camera filters help to reduce haze or the bluish cast that typically appears outdoors over longish distances, such as landscapes or seascapes.

These camera filters absorb UV light whilst remaining transparent to visible light.  For this reason Ultraviolet filters can be left on your camera for most normal shots and acts as a protective lens to your camera lens itself. In this respect, it is much cheaper to replace a damaged filter than it is to replace a damaged lens.

Stronger UV filters can also help to reduce purple fringing.

Neutral Density Filters

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Neutral Density camera filters absorb the intensity of the light, particularly on very bright days.  A Neutral Density filter will absorb the light evenly without the need for you to change the lens opening and without a color shift.

This allows the photographer to use a longer exposure or a larger aperture than he normally would be able to in bright light, depending on the effects he is trying to achieve in his photo shoot.  Examples of this would be:

·         To reduce depth of field.

·         To achieve a blurring effect of running water, e.g. waterfalls.

·         To add motion blur to moving objects.

Diffusion Filters


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More commonly used in portrait photography, diffusion camera filters reduce contrast and soften the image, giving a dream-like feel to the picture.

Some diffusion filters incorporate a fine mesh like netting while others use a transparent optical surface with fine dots or small circular or diamond patterns on. The overall effect is the same – to soften the image. In the case of portraits, a diffusion filter can help to soften wrinkles and make the face appear younger.

Tinted diffusion filters will give the softened image a hint of a chosen color or a warming tint.

Centre-spot or soft-spot diffusers help to blur out the background, while keeping the main central area bright and sharp. Color spot filters give the same effect as a centre-spot filter but with the background appearing as the color you’ve chosen.

Special Effect Filters

There’s a whole range of great special effect camera filters you can experiment with, such as colored or tinted filters, sepia filters, fog filters, star filters, multi-image filters, mirage filters, split-field filters. The list could go on and on. Let your imagination run wild and have fun!

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*Prices/discounts/shipping indicated correct at time of writing/publishing and may be subject to change anytime.  E&OE.

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