{insert crumpling wrapping paper sound here!}
IT’S A UV FILTER!
Check out this slick-looking thing:
THE PURPOSE OF USING UV FILTERS IN LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
What’s the point of it though, might you ask? Basically the purpose of a UV filter is to block harmful UV rays from hitting the film. But if you’re like me and you’re using a DSLR, you don’t have film!
It’s okay though! UV filters can serve another purpose, which is to protect your lens. Since lenses are a lot more expensive than UV filters (plus I have butter fingers), this makes sense to me.
Here’s something to consider when using a UV Filter:
Check out this photo! Nice product shot hey? But wait! See all that dust on the filter? Well, with this UV filter on, now there’s a second layer of glass to attempt to keep the dust off of (I say attempt because that’s really all it is). So with a UV filter on, now I have two layers of glass to keep clean.
It’s really no issue if I clean the lens first and then twist the filter on though… Unless I’m being lazy and just skip the cleaning part. That’s when it becomes an issue (so don’t do that).
LESSON LEARNED:
This is super important, so be sure to make note of this one! I attempted to take some shots of the northern lights (yes, it was dark out and I forgot to take the filter off at the start) and I noticed this massive flare:
So the lesson here is, if you’re shooting at night, take the filter off!
On another note, I found a new love on this magical evening – night photography. Oooh boy did I ever get giddy taking these photos. I think part of it is because the camera can capture so much more that what our eyes can see. It was a real treat every time the captured image showed up on that little LCD screen. Just have to get over my fear of the dark and I’ll be golden!
Thank you so much mom for getting me this lovely gift! I can’t wait to play around with it some more.