We are officially into the spring season and the sun is starting to appear from behind the clouds more and more. When the sun comes out it can create a few more challenges to getting the best photos possible such as: washed out skies, lots of reflections (especially around water), and blown out highlights. Although it will not fix all of these problems, a circular polarizer will help you achieve nice blue skies, clearer photos of water, and help tone down troublesome highlights all by eliminating reflected light.
When light is reflected off an object it is all the same wavelength, and a polarizing filter is able to eliminate that wavelength making the reflections less noticeable and giving you clearer photographs. On a polarizing filter the outer ring can be turned. This makes it easy to adjust the wavelength of light that is being eliminated, and consequently changes the effect the polarizer has on the photo. There are two different kinds of polarizers; linear polarizers, and circular polarizers. The most common of the two found today are circular polarizers, which have been designed to work better with the modern auto focus and metering systems in digital cameras.
Polarizers come in all common filter sizes as well as some less common sizes. Learn about our circular polarizer selection.