Essential guide to filters

Filters are a landscape photographer’s best friend. They can be used to balance tricky exposures, stretch shutter speeds, and manipulate the way light is recorded. In short, no serious landscape photographer should ever leave home without at least a handful of filters in their kitbag. Some will argue that in this digital age, their relevance is on the wane, but as advocates of getting it right in-camera as much as possible, we’re here to explain why they will never become obsolete.

There are numerous types of filters available, and all have their uses, no matter how niche, but there are three types that all discerning landscape specialists need to know about: graduated neutral density filters, neutral density filters, and polarising filters. All three will have a profound effect on your photography, but which you use and how you use it will depend on your chosen subject and intended end result.

Graduated neutral density filters

Often referred to as ND grads, they are the most commonly used filters and feature a light-reducing coating that is dark grey at the top and clear at the bottom. They are designed to balance exposures and to maintain detail in both the sky