The truth about polarizing filters is that every photographer should have one in his/her bag at all times. It is possibly THE single most important and‚ useful photo accessory you’ll own. When there is light outdoors, this filter is on my camera the vast majority of the time.
A CPOL (circular polarizing filter) can be used any time you’re in the outdoors, especially in the bright sun. It reduces reflections, and deepens/saturates colors like a blue sky. In bright sun,‚ you’ll often get skies that are blown out if you don’t use this filter. It makes the sky much bluer and richer looking in many cases without really affecting the other tones in the image. You will note the greatest results when the sun is low in the sky (so early morning and later afternoon/evening). The CPOL will not help your color and saturation much on overcast days, or when the sun is high in the sky.
For more information on this amazing little gadget, including a little insight into the ‘rule of thumb’ when using a CPOL, visit this link on polarizers in our photography forum
Here’s a link from B&H where you can look at or purchase different polarizers.
Buying from this link helps support our site.
Not a good test pic, you are underexposing the middle making the sky look darker.
Thanks for the tip and I agree that polarizing filters do make a huge difference especially with clouds and shots of shallow water.