Filter, Tripod & Flash

Other equipment that will help you take better photos includes filters, a tripod and an external flash. You don’t need to buy all of these straight away.

Filters enable you to achieve special effects and specific looks, two common and useful types of filter are polarising filters and neutral density (ND) filters.

Polarising filters make the sky appear more blue and reduce reflections on water. They are useful in sunny places, and when taking photos with water.

Here’s a photo with a very blue sky due to a polarising filter being used:

ND filters block out some of the light that enters through the lens. They come in different strengths and can be uses to take photos with a very long shutter speed so you can show things like motion in clouds and water, like this:

Tripods are used to hold your camera steady, and let you use long shutter speeds. They are useful at night in particular:

External Flash is a separate flash unit that attaches to your camera. It tilts and swivels so you can bounce the flash off a ceiling or wall to achieve more natural looking photos with flash. It is more powerful than the built in flash on your camera.