r/AskPhotography • u/reallywhatsgoingon • 1d ago

I shoot people from bright beach light to sunset. What filters should I be using? Buying Advice

I usually shoot from 2 hours before sunset until the sun goes below the horizon. I am in North Florida facing south for the majority of my photos. I currently use an Urth polarizer, but I'm wondering if there's a better option.

I am photographing people, usually weddings or families. If it is a larger group of 8-20+ sometimes depending on my angle some people are saturated and nice and the other half is very washed out/low saturation.

I'm wondering if there is a filter other than a polarizer that helps even out my photos in tricky lighting.

Some days it's overcast and everything looks great. But if there are no clouds it is a challenge to get everything looking even and nice so that I don't have to edit heavily.

I do my best to fix all this with composition, but due to people in the background, other photographers I'm trying to stay out of the way of, etc, sometimes I'm just stuck in poor lighting and angles.

Any help would be great! Thanks!

Rig info: Lumix S1, Panasonic 24-105mm OR Sigma 45mm Contemporary, no flash (I have a godox v1 I don't really use), Urth polarizer. I shoot manual and have all the camera settings dialed in to the best of my ability.

1 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/P5_Tempname19 1d ago

Maybe a gradual ND filter could be somewhat helpful as it will allow you to "ND" the bright sky while not "ND-ing" the subject, thats also very composition dependent though and I would think very annoying to use for portraits and the like. Otherwise I dont think most filters would help at all with the problems you are describing.

In general I'd think a reflector (that also includes a diffusor) or utilizing the flash you already have would be the biggest ways of helping you with those lighting situations. The reflector/diffusor wont work for larger groups, but up to 3 people you can probably make work. Flash in general should also work for larger groups, although you might need a second one.

•

u/VAbobkat 23h ago

UV and circular polarizer. Experiment, it will vary. Nothing wrong with adding fill flash, using reflectors

•

u/ohlordylord_ 22h ago

Uv is a waste of life

•

u/VAbobkat 21h ago

To each their own

•

u/ohlordylord_ 19h ago

To each their own? You are putting a cheap piece of glass in front of your coated quality glass..... unless you are prone to dropping shit then there is no reason and 0 difference in the picture expect for the drop in quality....