Filters in the Digital Age Part I
Using Filters in the Digital Age

In our changing photographic arena, do we still need filters for our photography? SHELTON MULLER discusses.

There are few photographers who haven't used filters to some degree and asking each photographer to name his favourites would leave you quite a catalogue of reasons to use many different kinds.

However, the popularity of digital SLR cameras has made many think that filters are a thing of the past. One of the most inherent problems with the advent of digital photography is the notion that images are created as part of a two-part process – the first being capture and the second being computer. This simply isn't true. While the darkroom has featured in image creation since photography's inception, photographers have always known how important it is to create the image in camera to the degree possible.

Above: A remote sunset made more intense with the Cokin Sunset filter.

The advantages to this philosophy are twofold at least. Primarily, there is the time-saving factor of producing an image that can be printed straight from the camera's memory card. This is a time saving benefit that many professional photographers really understand. Secondly, there is the value of knowledge. With each image created, managed and perfected in-camera there is the benefit of experience, understanding and knowledge that can only be gained in this process for use in other situations.

Enter the humble filter. While it's true that effect filters will rarely make eye-popping images of poor compositions or photographs where the photographer invests little of himself, filters are still necessary for very practical purposes. Digital has not changed that. That is why the choice of filter is particularly important both at the time of purchase and in those moments when they can either make or destroy a good image.

An ND8 – with a factor of 3 stops – was necessary
to provide the time exposure necessary to blur the water.

The Cokin filter system has been my personal favourite for over 25 years. It is the most adaptable system with a range of filters that covers the photographer's needs and imagination. This very practical system uses adaptors fitted to the lens, and the filters themselves are placed into tight slots in these adaptors. The advantage with this system initially is that you don't need to buy different filters for different size lenses. The one filter fits all, especially if you invest in the "P" size filters Cokin produce for today's larger lens diameters. And ultra-wideangle lenses can require surprisingly large diameter filters to avoid vignetting (darkening) in the corners of the image caused by the frame of a screw-in filter or a filter holder.

Ultra Violet and Skylight filters are usually par-for-the-course. You will usually find them tightly screwed on to most lenses these days. While they do little to actually enhance the image, they are optical quality front element protectors and they will save you from scratching, grinding and denting your front lens element. For this reason alone, they are a worthwhile investment. We strongly recommend that no lens goes unprotected.

Shelton Muller is a Melbourne-based photographer and the editor of Total Image and Better Pictures magazines. He can be contacted via his website at www.photographybyshelton.com