What is a 'circular' polarizer?

[dougsturgess]

I was looking at the photos on this website's first page that were taken with a G1 and so many that had great color were taken with a circular polarizer.

I have a polarizing filter for my G2 but I wasn't sure if a 'circular' polarizer was something different than just a regular polarizing lens.

Thanks for your help!

[slejhamer]

More than you'll ever want to know: http://www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/polarizer.htm

An article on using them effectively:
http://www.popphoto.com/pdfs/2002/0902/Polarizer.pdf

Also, search this forum and you'll find more discussion.

But the short answer is, for most non-SLR digital cameras, you can use either a linear or circular polarizer. Linears are much less expensive, too.

[dougsturgess]

Thanks for the great website. I do have another question if you don't mind.

I looked and the polarizing lens I have is a circular polarizer.

I took pictures with my G2 and polarizing lens for the first time in Cancun and for some reason, some of the pictures turned out too blue and I can't correct them after the fact. Why are they too blue. How do you get deep blue skies without making everything too blue?

Thanks.

[slejhamer]

Hmmm... the cliffshade article mentions a reverse-mounted cir-pol giving either cool or warm tones depending on how it is turned, but I will assume you did not mount it backwards. (Cancun, hot sun, a few cervesas or margaritas - you never know. :) )

It's easy to overdo the polarization effect. Colors in general can get very saturated, too.

But if you are talking about a blue cast throughout your pictures, then that sounds more like a white balance problem than something related to the polarizer. At worst, the polarizer may lead to underexposure by a few stops, but should not produce a color shift. I've experienced white-balance problems on my G1, even outdoors on sunny days, but never anything related to my polarizer.

There are polarizers with color tints (the Moose brand comes to mind,) though I think you'd know if you had one like that.

Sorry that's not much help. But a cold cervesa does sound good!

[dougsturgess]

Gracias!

[Ken Fong]

dougsturgess wrote:
Thanks for the great website. I do have another question if you don't mind.

I looked and the polarizing lens I have is a circular polarizer.

I took pictures with my G2 and polarizing lens for the first time in Cancun and for some reason, some of the pictures turned out too blue and I can't correct them after the fact. Why are they too blue. How do you get deep blue skies without making everything too blue?

Thanks.

You might also want to try a graduated neutral density filter to compensate for the vast difference in light between the sky and subject...you can hand hold it during the shot. Of course, you probably can't go back to Cancun right now to take the shot over. If you are using Photoshop, try correcting the color by adjusting the individual RGB channels.