by Jason Garland

Created on: December 16, 2008

Getting great photos out of your digital SLR takes technical know-how, a good eye, and a little luck. So if you've ever perused through a monthly travel magazine and wondered how the photographer managed to get the sky over Tahiti to look so blue, or how he got the waterfalls of the Amazon Basin to look like a rush of liquid silver, well you're in for a surprise: many of the most common effects seen in photographs are simply the result of well-chosen filters. If you've got an extra hundred dollars to spend and you want to add some pop and wow to your portfolio, then the following tips will get you started in using filters to create eye-opening photos.

Understanding Filter Size

Filters are designed to screw on snuggly to the front of your lens, but not all lenses are created equal. All lenses have a diameter measured in millimeters from edge to edge of the front opening. There's no need to measure this yourself as it is usually noted somewhere on the lens. Keep in mind that the lens diameter and the focal length or not the same thing. A 100mm lens might take a 52mm filter. The two numbers are unrelated.

If you own a lot of lenses and you intend to use filters on all of them, be prepared to invest in multiple filters of the same type in different diameters to accommodate all of your lenses.

UV/Skylight Filters

This first filter we'll discuss isn't so much for effect as it is protection. The front element of your lens is delicate and exposed. It makes sense to put something between your lens element and the outside world, and UV and Skylight filters are the perfect solution. You aren't going to see a whole lot of difference in the way your pictures look with these filters, though they are designed to block out UV that may cause haze in some photos.

Polarizing Filters

If you want to see drastic improvements immediately, here's the filter to reach for. If you've ever worn polarized sunglasses in the bright sun, then you can surely attest to how much colorful the world is from behind a polarized lens. Skies are bluer, water greener, and glare is greatly reduced. Polarized filters for cameras are a bit trickier though. The filter actually turns a full 360 degrees on the mount giving you control over how much light is blocked. Sometimes full throttle is just too much and you may want a little bit of glare to liven up a scene. Also, the filter has to be adjusted according to where the sun is at in the sky. To get the best effect, just stick the filter on, put your eye to the

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