Do I need to use filters with my digital camera?

If you are using Photoshop to treat the photos you taken then perhaps your natural tendency would be to say “do I really need filters?”.

You can do a lot in Photoshop but a filter will help you capture what you see with your eyes more accurately and even enhance the scene if you so desire.

Using filters gives you much more control on how you capture various elements of your photo. For example, you can boost the colours of the sky and the greenery with out actually affecting other parts of the scene or you can darken the sky while keeping the foreground in the right exposure.

Various Kinds of Filters

Even though there are several different kinds of filters here are a few that I think will suit most amateur photographer’s needs.

Polarising Filter

You can use the polarising filter to boost the colour saturation in your images and darken blue skies. You can also get rid of reflections or glare on bright sunny days.

Neutral Density Grad Filter

An ND Grad filter is most useful when you want to balance the exposure of a scene. If one area is dark while the other bright, an ND Grad filter can help you even it out.

Coloured Grad Filter

If you want to add a particular colour cast to an part of an image or scene, this filter will come in quite handy.

Warm-Up Filter

If you want tone up the colours of a scene to be warm then you can use this filter.

Diffuser

If you want to soften harsh light and add a soft focused diffusion to your photo then you can use the diffuser.