Topic: Neutral polarizer ? (Read 2908 times)

ivan muller · « **on:** June 25, 2007, 05:36:04 am »

hi to all,
I did a shoot over the weekend of some wine and brandy bottles with their boxes. To get rid of the refections on the boxes I used a cokin circular polarizer on my lens. I did notice that on a bright green box the colours came out more blue green in camera. The other colours were more accurate. I was wondering if the green is just a more difficult colour to photograph or is it the polariser. Would a better brand solve the problem?I havent done extensive test as I very seldom use the polariser. I did include a QP card for colour balance.

By the way my 150mm mamiya with extension tubes gave me more than acceptable sharpness on some very close focus images.
.
Any thoughts on the matter?

Thanks Ivan

snickgrr · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2007, 01:40:59 pm »

Back in the film days, my Harrison and Harrison polarizer would go greenish on me in the studio. I had written on the polarizer container the couple of CC filters needed to correct it and would throw that on without thinking.
Digital shooting is different now, if a reflection is a problem I shoot a frame without that reflection along with the main shot and mask in Photoshop. I shoot a lot of wine and food and bottle reflections I barely think about since it's so easy to work them any way you want.

mtomalty · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2007, 02:47:35 pm »

Ivan

If all or most of the other colors are near accurate it is most probably the green ink used in the
label on the product you are photographing.

I haven't shot commercially for some time but for years many shades of green or browns
in fabrics and printed material were impossible to match on film.

I would suspect something similar would occur when shooting digital

Mark

DavidP · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2007, 03:37:45 pm »

I would just chime in, I have always gotten green shift in the past on film with a polarizer and have used CCM filters to compensate.

RicAgu · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2007, 04:01:35 pm »

It could be the quality of filter. I have a B&W circular Polarizer and a Sinar Circular Polarizer and never noticed the tint. The B&W I use on the RZ and the sinar on my Arca. I never shot chrome or still life so it didn't need to be so exacting. Now on a Phase I don't see it either with the the Sinar or the B&W.

I'll have to look at my files and see if I see a tint. I mostly use it when my subject is wearing glasses or if I am shooting in a heavily windowed office or room.

ivan muller · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2007, 11:52:19 am »

Hi to all,thanks for the feedback.

Unfortunately, as most of the time, this was a rush job and I handed back all the products with the images, so I couldnt do a test to see if it was the ink on the box, my filter or the camera. I don,t do this type of shoot often so it has been a very steep learning curve! In fact without photoshop I dont see how it could be done!

I will try to get a B&W polarizing filter as I believe they are superior. Cokin polarizers just make life easier as you just need one size. I wonder if there will be a difference between normal and circular filters?

Thanks Ivan

rljones · « **Reply #6 on:** June 27, 2007, 04:40:31 pm »

In film days, I noticed various color shifts when using polarizers. It wasn't until I standardized on B&W, which has less cast than most, that this ceased to be problem (or, at least, became a uniform one). I now only use B&W multicoated, circular polarizers in various sizes.

Regards, Robert

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