Polarized filter

My wife decided to get family portraits taken last week and the photographer who took our photo was using a polarized filter.  Mind you, we were indoors in his studio.  Now I'm under no illusion that I know everything there is about photography.  So when I asked him what filter was he using (to confirm my suspicions in case he wasn't aware it was on), and he replied with "a polarized filter", I didn't ask why.  

Correct me if I'm wrong:  polarized filters don't do anything indoors right?  Or is there some sort of cool technique in using one indoors?  

Unless he was trying to stop things down (-2 stops), perhaps it was just an error on the photographers end. 

A polarizer will still polarize light, so yes it does indeed have an effect. I use mine when shooting with flash many times to have more control over the light. This is especially true if you are using the popup flash on your camera. Just do an experiment sometime, and see the difference. It will still make the colors pop a little more as it does with sun light. For your camera, and lens light is light no matter if it is natural, or artificial, the image sensor sees it the same. 

I've used mine too for light control indoors.  Now I have a variable ND filter that works great for this.  

KenMan wrote: Unless he was trying to stop things down (-2 stops), perhaps it was just an error on the photographers end. 

Good god, that must be one hell of a polarizer. I'm under the opinion most will bring your exposure down by at the very most one stop. Most good filters 1/3 or 1/2 of a stop.

I could be wrong however that is my knowledge.

Takennnn wrote:

KenMan wrote: Unless he was trying to stop things down (-2 stops), perhaps it was just an error on the photographers end. 

Good god, that must be one hell of a polarizer. I'm under the opinion most will bring your exposure down by at the very most one stop. Most good filters 1/3 or 1/2 of a stop.

I could be wrong however that is my knowledge.

That depends on who manufactured it. I have found over the years that my Hoya filters were the darkest, and that my Nikon is the lightest. The Nikon is in that 1/3 range at maximum, the Hoya is about 1 full stop, and my B+W is in the middle. Then I am also willing to bet they can in the same brand depending on the run, or lot.

Joves wrote:

Takennnn wrote:

KenMan wrote: Unless he was trying to stop things down (-2 stops), perhaps it was just an error on the photographers end. 

Good god, that must be one hell of a polarizer. I'm under the opinion most will bring your exposure down by at the very most one stop. Most good filters 1/3 or 1/2 of a stop.

I could be wrong however that is my knowledge.

That depends on who manufactured it. I have found over the years that my Hoya filters were the darkest, and that my Nikon is the lightest. The Nikon is in that 1/3 range at maximum, the Hoya is about 1 full stop, and my B+W is in the middle. Then I am also willing to bet they can in the same brand depending on the run, or lot.

Agreed that different brands run a bit differently. My new polarizer is darker than my last one. But they are still not 2 stops. That would be crazy. 

Joves wrote: A polarizer will still polarize light, so yes it does indeed have an effect. I use mine when shooting with flash many times to have more control over the light. This is especially true if you are using the popup flash on your camera. Just do an experiment sometime, and see the difference. It will still make the colors pop a little more as it does with sun light. For your camera, and lens light is light no matter if it is natural, or artificial, the image sensor sees it the same. 

Yep, good post

Good idea, now wouldn't a polarized filter have some variable effect too?

Joves wrote: A polarizer will still polarize light, so yes it does indeed have an effect. I use mine when shooting with flash many times to have more control over the light. This is especially true if you are using the popup flash on your camera. Just do an experiment sometime, and see the difference. It will still make the colors pop a little more as it does with sun light. For your camera, and lens light is light no matter if it is natural, or artificial, the image sensor sees it the same. 

Thanks for that info, apart from using it with water or reflections I have never thought it could be used for anything else

stutter warrior wrote: Thanks for that info, apart from using it with water or reflections I have never thought it could be used for anything else

It will deepen the color of a clear blue sky, as well.