I went down to the lake the other day. It was a beautiful sunny summer’s day. I took a few snaps, nothing record breaking, but I did find a good example of why a polariser is a must for any photographer.

Most people tell you that a polariser is used to remove reflections and darken skies. That’s true enough, but the reason I use a polariser is for the added colour boost you get.

Here is an example.

This photo is taken with no polariser.

And this photo is taken with a polariser.

Quite a difference huh…. and its no shabby lens, this was with the Canon 135mm 2.0L lens. You can notice much improved colour, and less bokeh highlights.

I use two brands of polariser myself. In the above example I used a B+W XS-Pro KSM C-POL MRC nano filter. I highly recommend the B+W filters. I have two, and they are excellent. I recommend going for the KSM nano coated ones, even if they are a bit more expensive. The other brand I would recommend is the Breakthrough Photography X4 CPL filter. I supported Breakthrough via a Kickstarter campaign, and I was one of the first to get one in Australia. It’s a great filter which also uses Schott glass and has even better saturation than the B+W filters. Both these filters have a slim brass construction. I plan to do a short review of the Breakthrough filter soon.

For more information about the filters I use, see here:

B+W Filter: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1141526-REG/b_w_1081479_82mm_xs_pro_mc_kaesemn.html

Breakthrough Photography X4: http://breakthrough.photography/product/x4-circular-polarizer/

If you are in the market for a polariser, get the best polariser you can afford! You will regret buying a cheapy as soon as you realise it doesn’t do anything except make your images soft.

Happy Shooting!