Will a polarizing filter help with black and white photography?

-- jenny Zink Reames (jenny@pilgrimpage.com), September 28, 1999

Answers

Sure! It can darken blue skies for a more realistic effect (and let the clouds show up). It will also control reflections from smooth or shiny surfaces. Look through a polarizer at a wood coffee table with a window behind it, and rotate the polarizer. You should see a great variation in how the light is reflected off the table, esp if it has some curved surfaces. This is angle sensitive, but a few minutes just looking through the thing and experimenting is worth an hour of explanation.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), September 28, 1999.