In general, using a polarizer on clouds and skies will almost always increase contrast, but if the subject itself is highly relfective then a polarizer will instead likely decrease cotrast.

In the example to the left, the sun was near the horizon, so the strip of sky directly overhead was most influenced by the polarizer (causing it to appear darker), whereas the upper left and lower right regions (nearer the horizon) were much less impacted. If a telephoto lens had been used to photograph just the tower, then the sky would have appeared much more even.

Focal length

3| Start at what you think is the right distance away from your subject and gradually move yourself closer or further away until the subject looks sharp – do this without changing any setting on the lens. Then, without altering your distance from the subject, look to see how far away you are. Once you have taken a mental snapshot, put the lens back to its autofocus (AF) setting. Then, in future, you’ll know roughly how close you need to get to achieve the best possible magnification with your lens.

Focus distance

ABOVE: On macro lenses, the focusing scale provides extra information. As well as the minimum distance in feet and metres, it also shows the magnification ratio at that distance, marked in yellow, with the ratio 1: marked on the lens barrel to the left of the window.

*Note: polarizers can sometimes enhance the color and contrast of a rainbow by darkening background clouds, but only if the filter has been rotated just right. Furthermore, including both ends of a rainbow usually requires a wide angle lens, in which case the scene/rainbow may appear uneven.

Furthermore, sometimes reflections are essential to a photograph. Two key examples include sunsets and rainbows*; use a polarizer on either and the colorful, reflected light may disappear if the polarizer is rotated for maximum effect.

A polarizing filter can be an extremely powerful tool for removing reflections and isolating objects which are wet, underwater or behind a window. In the example below, a polarizer enables the photographer to select between subjects which are reflected from or are underneath the water's surface:

However, just because the filter is capable of its maximum effect in the above directions, this doesn't necessarily mean this is where the image will appear most effected. Rotating your filter will toggle the angle (relative to the sun) that appears most polarized. The best way to get a feel for this is to rotate the filter while looking through the camera's viewfinder (or rear LCD), but you can also consult the box below for specifics on how this process works.

Minimumfocus distance

The above panorama would have appeared uneven with a polarizer, and the rainbow could have even disappeared at some positions. Photo from Arches National Park - Utah, USA.

The closest focusing distance is often thought of as the distance from the front of the lens to the subject. However, it is actually measured from the focal plane, which is usually marked on the top of all Canon EOS cameras.

Carry out this test with all the lenses you are likely to use for shooting close-ups or macro. If you are going to use accessories such as close-up lenses or extension tubes, then test these as well in the same way. If your camera refuses to fire or focus when switched back to AF, try moving slightly further away – if you are too close and therefore out of focus the camera will refuse to fire when shooting in One Shot AF.

A polarizer can also remove unwanted reflections when taking a photo out of a window or other transparent barrier. Move your mouse over the example to the left to see how a polarizer eliminates the window reflections. This can be a very useful tool when photographing objects within store windows, out a moving train or within a glass case, for example.

Polarizing filters can increase color saturation and decrease reflections — and are one of the only lens filters which cannot be replicated using digital photo editing. They are an indispensable tool that should be in every photographer's camera bag. However, developing an intuition for how a polarizer might impact a photo often requires extensive experimentation. This tutorial aims to accelerate that process by demonstrating how and why polarizing filters can help — and in some cases harm — different types of scenes.

Canon tells you how close its lenses can focus, which is called the closest focusing distance. As the term suggests, this is the closest that the lens can be and still achieve focus on that subject. Any closer and the lens cannot achieve focus, either manually or automatically.

However, saturation isn't always increased uniformly. This all depends on whether a particular object is at an optimal angle to the sun, and whether this object is highly reflective. In general, more reflective objects will see a greater increase in saturation when using a polarizer. Clear sunny days are also much more heavily influenced by polarizers than overcast or rainy days.

Since a polarizer's effect varies with angle, results can appear uneven when using a wide angle lens. Some portions of the scene might be in a direction which is directly into the sun, whereas others might be at a right angle to the sun. In that case, one side of the photo would have a strong polarizer effect, whereas the other side would not.

1| Switch the lens to its manual focus (MF) setting – the switch is typically on the side of your lens (occasionally a button on camera or menu item).

Focaldistancevs focal length

However, less glare/contrast is sometimes undesirable. In the example below, the artistic intent was to (literally) highlight the curving road by portraying it in stark contrast to its surroundings. Using a polarizer actually detracted from this goal:

Notes on Filter Rotation Angle. At one extreme, you can rotate your filter so that the direction of maximum polarization will be perpendicular to the direction of the sun (as shown in the above examples). In that case, the polarizing effect will be as pronounced as possible. If you then rotate your filter just a little (say 10-20°), you can shift the angle of maximum effect slightly towards or away from the sun, but in this case the polarizing effect won't be as pronounced as before. As this angle gets progressively closer to the direction into or away from the sun, the polarizing effect will appear progressively less pronounced. Finally, once the filter has been rotated a full 90° (to the other extreme), then no polarizing effect will be visible. Any more rotation than this and the polarizing effect increases again and the cycle repeats.

Although wide angle lenses certainly aren't ideal, rotating the polarizing filter can sometimes make the effect appear more realistic. One approach is to ensure that the most pronounced polarization coincides with the image's edge or corner. This way the change in polarization will look more like a natural gradient across the sky (such as how the sky might appear during twilight).

Minimumfocus distancehuman eye

A polarizing filter will be capable of its maximum effect when one's line of sight (in red below) is perpendicular to the direction of the sun:

However, polarizers can also sometimes create an unrealistic-looking rainbow or ripple effect on windows which are uneven, have been tinted or are treated with coatings. A good example of this is something called "birefringement," which appears when taking a polarized photo through an airplane window:

On most models this mark is in white (as below), though on some it is embossed into the body and is in the same colour as the body. The symbol remains the same. With mirrorless cameras, the focal plane is much closer to the lens than with an SLR camera – this is because of the absence of a mirror reflex assembly in mirrorless cameras, which is positioned in front of the sensor (or film) in SLR cameras.

Polarizers are placed in front of your camera lens, and work by filtering out sunlight which has been directly reflected toward the camera at specific angles. This is beneficial because the remaining light is often more diffuse and colorful, but it also requires a longer exposure time (since light has been discarded). The angle that is filtered is controlled by rotating the polarizer itself, and the strength of this effect can be controlled by changing the camera's line of sight relative to the sun.

ABOVE: If your lens has a focusing scale, then the closest focusing measurement is shown when you turn the focusing ring as far to the right as possible. You will see two readings: one for feet (in green) and the other in metres (white).

In the above example, note how the polarizer was unable to remove reflections entirely (although it did a pretty good job). This isn't ever possible, but fortunately polarizers are usually able to make reflections imperceptible unless they're relatively intense. Unfortunately the one exception is with metal surfaces — which often also happens to be the brightest and least desirable type of reflection.

Minimumfocus distancecalculator

ABOVE: On lenses without a focusing scale, the information is simply printed onto the lens barrel, normally on the underside. This lens has a closest focusing distance of 0.25m (0.8ft).

Focal lengthcamera

In other situations polarizers can instead increase contrast. In the next example, the polarizer increased contrast by filtering the light reflecting off of the haze and sea spray. This effect appears most pronounced in the hills and the puffy clouds directly overhead:

On the other hand, in most other situations a decrease in glare is desirable and generally creates a more pleasing photo. For instance, in the above example the light doesn't appear as harsh and reflective on the rocks to the far right.

When direct reflections are reduced, a greater fraction of the subject's light is of the diffuse variety — resulting in a more colorful representation. Foliage will be rendered with a brighter green, skies will have a deeper blue and flowers will appear more intense.

A good way to visualize this is to aim your pointer finger at the sun while holding your thumb straight up. Everywhere your thumb points when you rotate your hand (while still pointing at the sun) is where the polarizer is capable of the strongest impact.

It is important to be able to visually gauge the distance you need to be from your subject to get the maximum magnification. There is a simple way to check this distance when you start shooting with a new lens.

In the example to the right, the effect on the stone and foliage is subtle, but the sky becomes a noticeably darker blue. Take care not to overdo this effect; unusually dark mid-day skies or overly vibrant foliage can easily make photos appear unrealistic.

2| Turn the focusing ring so that the lens is set to its closest focusing setting. (If using a zoom lens, make sure it’s at its longest focal length.)

FOV to focal length

Since polarizers reduce direct reflections, this often has the consequence of also reducing image contrast. This can make it easier to capture scenes with a broad dynamic range, such as trying to balance a bright sky with relatively unreflective land (which can even make using a graduated neutral density filter or high dynamic range less important).

Your Canon lens will have a way of telling you of the closest focusing distance though, depening on the lens, this may be shown in a number of different ways.

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