Hi, you know, camera filters are great accessories for any videographer.
However, I find that beginners in our craft don't employ them as much as they can.
Filters add special effects to your videos and they can dramatically improve the look and feel of your production.
If you know how to use filters properly, you can alter a scene in almost any way you could think of.
Now, filters are all about experimentation through trial and error - you should try them out as much as you can, then you'll slowly understand what filter to use in a specific video scene.
In this article, I'll provide you with short a guide on video camera filters and how you can use them appropriately.
1.
Understand Filter Basics To attach a filter to your video camera, you need something called a matte box.
A matte box screws on to your camera lens on one end and holds a filter.
There are some models that let you hold multiple lenses, but those tend to be more expensive.
Now, not all video cameras can take professional matte boxes.
What you do in this case is go for something like the Cokin filter system, which was first designed for still cameras.
Whichever filter you choose, make sure they can be raised or lowerd in front of your lens and are able to rotate properly.
2.
Filter Types Next up, we'll want to take a look at the different filter types available for your video camera.
In general, there are three types of filters which are in common use:
3.
Polarizing Filter A polarizing filter, or polo, is one of the first filters you should get.
I like to think of a polarizer as a glare blocker.
When you use a polo, you're giving your camera a set of polarized sunglasses.
You can significantly reduce glare in your seen, and also introduce darker, fuller and richer colors.
Polarizing filters enhance natural colors and they are especially useful in sunny conditions.
I've seen cases where a sunny hot sky is turned into a deep blue, nice exposed background.
4.
ND Filter ND filters are color neutral.
What this means is that you can make a scene denser or darker, without affecting the colors.
I usually use ND filters in scenes where I need to uniformly darken a scene.
If I'm shooting an interview, and I want to darken the stark light, I will screw on an ND filter.
If I'm outside in the gardens filming a subject, and the sky is too bright, I may want to get a ND filter in as well.
5.
Graduating Filter A graduating filter, or grad, is able to give you different levels of filtering.
They tend to move from full intensity to clear glass.
One of the better grad filters to use is the tobacco grad, which I tend to use in sunset scenes.
It lends a brown-orange hue to what I'm shooting and makes an otherwise boring shot more spectacular.
Wrapping Up...
I hope the above has helped you understand a bit more about camera filters.
Filters are a great accesory for any videographer.
You can change the look of your videos during shooting and not wait till post-production.
By the way, there are also a couple of other filters which you can try out if you want to find out more.
These go by different names like the 812, High Con, Soft FX, Black Pro Mist, Star, Gold Diffusion, etc.
I'd suggest you do a Google search on "812 filter" or "High Con filter" to see what these filters can do.
Also, if you want to see what effect filters have on your video scene, you could try visiting this link - which I think is a great service offered by the filter company Tiffen.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have fun with your filters!
However, I find that beginners in our craft don't employ them as much as they can.
Filters add special effects to your videos and they can dramatically improve the look and feel of your production.
If you know how to use filters properly, you can alter a scene in almost any way you could think of.
Now, filters are all about experimentation through trial and error - you should try them out as much as you can, then you'll slowly understand what filter to use in a specific video scene.
In this article, I'll provide you with short a guide on video camera filters and how you can use them appropriately.
1.
Understand Filter Basics To attach a filter to your video camera, you need something called a matte box.
A matte box screws on to your camera lens on one end and holds a filter.
There are some models that let you hold multiple lenses, but those tend to be more expensive.
Now, not all video cameras can take professional matte boxes.
What you do in this case is go for something like the Cokin filter system, which was first designed for still cameras.
Whichever filter you choose, make sure they can be raised or lowerd in front of your lens and are able to rotate properly.
2.
Filter Types Next up, we'll want to take a look at the different filter types available for your video camera.
In general, there are three types of filters which are in common use:
- Polarizing (Polo) filters
- ND (Neutral Density) filters
- Graduating (Grad) filters
3.
Polarizing Filter A polarizing filter, or polo, is one of the first filters you should get.
I like to think of a polarizer as a glare blocker.
When you use a polo, you're giving your camera a set of polarized sunglasses.
You can significantly reduce glare in your seen, and also introduce darker, fuller and richer colors.
Polarizing filters enhance natural colors and they are especially useful in sunny conditions.
I've seen cases where a sunny hot sky is turned into a deep blue, nice exposed background.
4.
ND Filter ND filters are color neutral.
What this means is that you can make a scene denser or darker, without affecting the colors.
I usually use ND filters in scenes where I need to uniformly darken a scene.
If I'm shooting an interview, and I want to darken the stark light, I will screw on an ND filter.
If I'm outside in the gardens filming a subject, and the sky is too bright, I may want to get a ND filter in as well.
5.
Graduating Filter A graduating filter, or grad, is able to give you different levels of filtering.
They tend to move from full intensity to clear glass.
One of the better grad filters to use is the tobacco grad, which I tend to use in sunset scenes.
It lends a brown-orange hue to what I'm shooting and makes an otherwise boring shot more spectacular.
Wrapping Up...
I hope the above has helped you understand a bit more about camera filters.
Filters are a great accesory for any videographer.
You can change the look of your videos during shooting and not wait till post-production.
By the way, there are also a couple of other filters which you can try out if you want to find out more.
These go by different names like the 812, High Con, Soft FX, Black Pro Mist, Star, Gold Diffusion, etc.
I'd suggest you do a Google search on "812 filter" or "High Con filter" to see what these filters can do.
Also, if you want to see what effect filters have on your video scene, you could try visiting this link - which I think is a great service offered by the filter company Tiffen.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have fun with your filters!
Source...