I had three filters—a diffusion filter, a warming filter and a linear polarizer— and no-one to try them on. Two filters—the diffusion and the warming—are primarily used in portrait work or at weddings. I decided to throw the polarizer in just to see if it would work to improve the image over a straight shot.
I choose a Cedar tree in my yard as a subject. It has fine detail in the leaves, shadows and highlights. It was lit by cloudy bright sky from a 90° in mid-afternoon.
The camera is a Nikon F70 with a Nikon DX AF S Nikkor 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 zoom.
All shots are as captured unless stipulated with the polarizer images at the end.
The images were taken at 135 mm about ten feet away from the foliage. ISO 1600 for all shots.
with no filters —125 sec at f/5.6
diffusion —100 sec at f/5.6
diffusion —0.4 sec at f/36 (to see if changing aperture changes diffusion level)
warming —80 sec at f/5.6
polarizer —80 sec at f/5.6 (mounting filter changed lens to 120 mm)*
Note: Exposure system on the Nikon requires circular polarizer to work, so this is what happens if you use a linear polarizer filter. It was shot at the same exposure as the last filter, so is underexposed by 1.5 stops.
The polarizer images were all pretty dense. I couldn’t see much through the viewfinder of a change when I rotated the polarizer orientation. I shot three shots at a filter orientation of 0°, 45° and 90°. They are all dark, so here they are enhanced up to reasonable.
0° polarizer 80 sec at f/5.6 (same as last image, just enhanced)
45° polarizer 160 sec at f/5.6 (exposure has changed, but for the worse)
90° polarizer 160 sec at f/5.6
I can’t explain why the tone of the tree changes in the polarizer corrected shots. Since the correction was using a single button in iPhoto I suspect better results would be possible.
Some broad conclusions are possible.
When using the aperture to control the effect of a diffusion filter with concentric rings at some point the pattern of the rings becomes visible. The idea seems false that a small opening would use less rings, so there would be less diffusion. Closing down for less diffusion would only work if the diffusion filter had a variable pattern of rings with a clearer central area.
The warming filter is a success! I would use them for portraits in cloudy or open shade conditions.
Polarizers were never for portraits of cedar trees, at least in cloudy light.
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