Chris Hayward
(K=1519) - Comment Date 6/15/2004
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Roberta-
I have in the past used polarizing filters in a variety of conditions including desert conditions. Under bright sun conditions, much of the landscape may be dominated by reflections (even off of leaves, rock and sand). Polarizing filters have the ability to remove much of this and often improve the imaged contrast of the scene. It can also improve the sky.
Having said all of this, it depends on the sky conditions (cloudy skys = no polarizing conditions), the time of day, and the direction you are shooting relative to the sun. It's easy to check - look through the polarizing filter and see if you like what you see (see if there is a difference).
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Elangovan S
(K=10675) - Comment Date 6/15/2004
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IMO, polarizers are very valuable thing. I use all the time except shooting portraits or night scenes. It helps to cut down all sorts of refectled lights from various surface except metalic surface. Whether I shoot b&w or color slides, I use Circular polarizer.
Elangs.
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Jeroen Wenting
(K=25317) - Comment Date 6/20/2004
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Quite apart from reducing reflections inside the sand (yes, sand is highly reflective, almost as much as polished glass), a well used polariser will also do much to enhance the colour of the sky and the contrast between sand and sky.
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Ray Heath
(K=4559) - Comment Date 6/21/2004
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Roberta, basically a polariser reduces naturally occuring flare and glare caused by reflected light. This intensifies colours and increases apparent sharpness. So obviously it is mainly used outdoors in bright sunny conditions. It can however be used whenever there is a need to reduce reflections. The downside is the filter losses approx. 2.5 stops of light so can be difficult to use in low light situations.
A polariser used for general outdoor photography in bright sunny conditions will immediately make a grossly noticable improvement to most images, but beware of creating overly darkened skies.
As for any equipment, technique etc it should not be blindly used in every situation.
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