Care, Feeding & Proper Use
There are few more important things that a nature photographer can do to improve his or her photography than becoming familiar with the use of the polarizing filter.

What can a polarizing filter do for you? Among other things it can darken the sky, remove reflections from water, and make foliage appear less shiny. Colour saturation is also significantly enhanced. It is the only filter for use with colour film that can do all of this.

Lone Crane Yucatan, 2002

Photographed with a Pentax 645NII and Pentax (67) 200mm f/4 lens on Provia 100F Polarizer

As seen above the use of a polarizing has been effective in removing reflections and glare from the surface of the water, and also in increasing the saturation of the colours beneath the water. The remarkable colour is cased by run-off from the surrounding mangrove swamp near the estuary in Celestn, Yucatan, Mexico. (See below for more on ...