We’ve frequently talked about using polarizing filters to make more striking landscape photographs, but they are at least as important for making more vibrant portraits, and cutting your retouching time in half. Let me show you how it works, as well as some general tips.
What does a polarizer do?
Polarizers reduce the visible affect of reflections — that’s it.
The sky is full of water vapor and other particles which reflect sunlight, and most things that reflect sunlight appear white, right? The polarizer removes those reflections leaving behind the true blue sky. Leaves on trees and grass also reflect the sun, so it reveals their truer colors, too. Most buildings also reflect light, and the polarizer allows their rich colors to show. Overall, a polarizer will yield a more richly colored photograph every time.
Guess what? People’s skin also reflects sunlight.
Polarizing portraits
Polarizing a portrait not only makes the sky, foliage, and buildings more rich and vibrant, it also removes much of the shininess on a person’s face. Oil on skin reflects light, making a shiny appearance. In the portrait below, my subject had just had makeup done (by Denise Christensen) so her shine was already minimal. But compare the left and right images and you’ll see that the polarizer removed all the remaining shine, leaving only the smooth skin tones Denise made with makeup. Click the image to view larger.
The sky is richer, the grass is greener, the building is more saturated — even the cliff in the background and her black shirt look better — but most importantly, her skin has no shine to it. That means that my image right out of camera is ready to go to with practically no retouching, and that’s a huge time savings, and it makes me look good in front of my subject and my client, and it shows Denise’s work at its best, too.
I use the B+W F-Pro circular polarizer — which I bought in the 77mm diameter size — and I use it with step-up rings to fit my smaller diameter lenses (that way I only buy one expensive filter — step-up rings are cheap). It’s made of brass which means it never gets stuck on my lenses.
Notes on exposing with a polarizer
In the captions above you can see that these two captures were made with the exact same exposure settings in the camera. It’s noteworthy that the polarizer is attached to the lens for both pictures, but it wasn’t activated in the image on the left. Polarizers are dark, so your exposure with the polarizer removed is brighter.
Also, as you rotate the polarizer to activate it, you remove all those shiny highlights, which fools your camera into thinking the picture is darker; if you use Aperture Priority mode to shoot, you’ll see the shutter speed get slower as you rotate the polarizer. But don’t be fooled! The correct exposure is the same for both the polarized and unpolarized frames.
I strongly recommend you remove the polarizer when you’re not actively using it. It’s darker — 1–2 stops darker, which usually means a slower shutter speed. I’ve often had students leave the polarizer on all the time, but making a portrait indoors where it’s not needed means the shutter speed could go from 1/125s without it to 1/30s with it, and it’s hard to make a sharp picture at such slow speeds.
Polarizers work at 90 degrees
Point your index finger straight out, and stick your thumb straight out, like an “L” shape. Now, point at the sun with your finger and rotate you wrist: wherever your thumb points is the most polarized part of the sky and your filter will have the most affect in that arc (you’ll get the bluest skies). I don’t totally understand it, but polarization works at 90 degree angles. (Special thanks to Mr. Barbara for that finger-pointing tip — I don’t remember much from my high school photography classes, but that one stuck :) )
That’s why I chose the backdrop for the portrait above. The sun was just about directly to my left, which puts the sky behind my subject just about 90 degrees to the sun, which is why the polarizer has such a strong affect on the sky in that image. Also, she’s a city planner … so we wanted the city buildings in the background.
The image at the top is a horizontal portrait I made moments before the other two. When I rotated the camera to the vertical orientation, I depolarized the image (which is why I have the flubbed one above). If you rotate your camera, you have to readjust the filter orientation.
More on polarizing …
Using a polarizer in your portraits will make them more vibrant, and save you time touching up shiny spots, and that makes it well worth the price of getting a good one. They’re like magic!
To get correct exposure, what do you suggest? Would you deactivate the polarizer, take the exposure from the camera meter, then set the exposure in Manual mode?
The camera will correctly auto expose if that’s what you prefer with the filter attached. Its just going to be a slower shutter because of less light coming in. You can boost the ISO or adjust aperture to shorten shutter speed.
I am confused by the author’s statement that both photos in the blog post are the same exposure, one with and one without the polarizer.
The Polarizer has to be turned to engage. You rotate it to adjust it to the proper angle for cutting down the reflections. It’s on just not positioned correctly in one exposure.
Make sure the polarizer is attached, do what the meter in camera suggests for exposure, then adjust to flavor. Frankly, I just look at the picture on the LCD and make sure it’s looking good. The thing you’ll notice is that there are fewer blown highlights and more rich colors throughout. The best thing is just to get out experiment.
Thanks. That’s pretty much what i thought.
Reblogged this on lutherlking's Blog.
Will a polarizer help with reflections from eyeglasses? It always amazes me when people suggest removing the lenses from eyeglasses. I would never allow someone to do that to my glasses nor do I want the liability of doing that to someone else’s glasses. Eyeglass glare has always been a nuisance for me to deal with. Tipping the glasses doesn’t always work either.
Great question, Lee. I’m the same way–I’d never try to remove someone’s lenses, nor would I combine photos with and without glasses–too much work, and too sterile looking. Tipping the lenses looks bad too often, too. Depending on the light source, the polarizer will help. It’s not going to help a whole lot in the studio, however. I’ve had really good luck by simply tilting the person’s head, or altering the position of the light a little bit. It’s all about angles, and the light reflects off the lenses at the same angles it shines in–just don’t position the camera… Read more »
Thanks Levi! I’ll try different head tilts as you suggested. Thankfully I don’t shoot portraits too often which is why I haven’t figured out a good solution to the glare. I do love my polarizer though!
As an amateur photographer I try to obtain suggestions from any legitimate source- following a land tour of the Egyptian Pyramids and while reviewing my shots I noted the tendency toward over-exposure. My guide/photo-instructor asked why I wasn’t using a “Circular Polarizer?” He said get one and you will wonder why you didn’t start out with one! As stated in your article I was amazed at the difference in true colors when using my “Polarizer!” Never leave home with out it!
isnt this circular polariser slowing you down when you take the snap ? hanse the time needed to fidle with it till you get it right !
Aren’t better photos worth slowing down for? Who said it was a race?
Polarizers are such a good toll for photographers, but one must be very carefull when the sky is on the frame, otherwise it may look so artificial.
Great post I am a wedding photographer and have been considering getting a polarizer .. now I will thanks
Thank you for the tips and links! I take 75% of my portraits at the beach and this is worth trying.
Since I’m also a journalist, I’m thinking the filter might help with the shiny reflections I get off skin when using my speedlight on the camera?
Mary, I think you’ll find it does help with the reflections on skin with flash, but remember that you exposure will also be darker with the filter attached. I’d use it in the studio, but I’d be cautious indoors for the exposure.
As an amateur photographer I try to obtain suggestions from any legitimate source- following a land tour of the Egyptian Pyramids and while reviewing my shots I noted the tendency toward over-exposure. My guide/photo-instructor asked why I wasn’t using a “Circular Polarizer?” He said get one and you will wonder why you didn’t start out with one! As stated in your article I was amazed at the difference in true colors when using my “Polarizer!” Never leave home with out it!
isnt this circular polariser slowing you down when you take the snap ? hanse the time needed to fidle with it till you get it right !
Aren’t better photos worth slowing down for? Who said it was a race?
Will a polarizer help with reflections from eyeglasses? It always amazes me when people suggest removing the lenses from eyeglasses. I would never allow someone to do that to my glasses nor do I want the liability of doing that to someone else’s glasses. Eyeglass glare has always been a nuisance for me to deal with. Tipping the glasses doesn’t always work either.
Great question, Lee. I’m the same way–I’d never try to remove someone’s lenses, nor would I combine photos with and without glasses–too much work, and too sterile looking. Tipping the lenses looks bad too often, too. Depending on the light source, the polarizer will help. It’s not going to help a whole lot in the studio, however. I’ve had really good luck by simply tilting the person’s head, or altering the position of the light a little bit. It’s all about angles, and the light reflects off the lenses at the same angles it shines in–just don’t position the camera… Read more »
Thanks Levi! I’ll try different head tilts as you suggested. Thankfully I don’t shoot portraits too often which is why I haven’t figured out a good solution to the glare. I do love my polarizer though!
To get correct exposure, what do you suggest? Would you deactivate the polarizer, take the exposure from the camera meter, then set the exposure in Manual mode?
The camera will correctly auto expose if that’s what you prefer with the filter attached. Its just going to be a slower shutter because of less light coming in. You can boost the ISO or adjust aperture to shorten shutter speed.
I am confused by the author’s statement that both photos in the blog post are the same exposure, one with and one without the polarizer.
The Polarizer has to be turned to engage. You rotate it to adjust it to the proper angle for cutting down the reflections. It’s on just not positioned correctly in one exposure.
Make sure the polarizer is attached, do what the meter in camera suggests for exposure, then adjust to flavor. Frankly, I just look at the picture on the LCD and make sure it’s looking good. The thing you’ll notice is that there are fewer blown highlights and more rich colors throughout. The best thing is just to get out experiment.
Thanks. That’s pretty much what i thought.
Polarizers are such a good toll for photographers, but one must be very carefull when the sky is on the frame, otherwise it may look so artificial.
Reblogged this on lutherlking's Blog.
Great post I am a wedding photographer and have been considering getting a polarizer .. now I will thanks
Thank you for the tips and links! I take 75% of my portraits at the beach and this is worth trying.
Since I’m also a journalist, I’m thinking the filter might help with the shiny reflections I get off skin when using my speedlight on the camera?
Mary, I think you’ll find it does help with the reflections on skin with flash, but remember that you exposure will also be darker with the filter attached. I’d use it in the studio, but I’d be cautious indoors for the exposure.
Great and interesting article, thanks! However, in all honesty, I think skin tones could get too warm and need a color rework in post-processing,and additionally by increasing the contrast in background, bluer and darker skies and other elements that now “pop” make it for both a busier and a more ‘fake look’ background, which work in the oposite direction of isolating and remarking our subject. As much as I like the cutted reflexions on skin, I am not sure that having all effects into account it is generally speaking worth it for portraits, unless,again, some work is done to counteract… Read more »