Camera Filters - Cheap and Versatile Digital Camera Accessories

A glance through almost any magazine and you will see a wealth of pictures, both for ads and to accompany the articles. For the most part, the special effects that will have been used for these pictures are created either through photo editing software, or with that most versatile group of camera accessories - special types of filters.

There are a wealth of different filters, each having a unique and specific function, and all types are nowadays available for digital cameras. Here are brief descriptions of the most common filters:

Star effect filters are exist in different formats, e.g. with six or eight points. These increase image brightness and enhance more difficult photos when you have reflected light, e.g. sun or street lights in pools or on glass surfaces. A cross filter is a kind of star filter that generates more dramatic effects when something bright is worn by the subject. It is commonly used for fashion and glamour photography, such as when the subject of the picture is wearing jewelry.

Another kind of light-refracting filter are spectral cross filters, often used in portraits and outdoor shots. They produce cross effects and soft-focus effects. These filters consist of two transparent optical glasses which are arranged in a rotating frame. A gauze-like black fiber is positioned between the two transparent glasses.

Close-up filters are an alternative to zoom lenses, and are more compact and often much better than zooms in many situations. They available in different diopters, ranging from +1 to +10. The higher the number, the, closer the capture.

Macro close-up filters with a +10 diopters rating with a two-element, two-group construction lens are used for capturing small objects, such as flowers and insects, in close-up pictures. With such a filter you can easily take a close up of only half the subject, retaining the other half in its normal size. This is helpful when you want to focus on both near and distant objects simultaneously.

Other kinds of more specialised filters include color filters, multivision filters, which duplicate objects in a picture, misty spot filters for emphasizing the primary focal point of the picture, and their opposite, the sharpening center spot filters. Finally, diffusion filters produce a soft focus effect and are normally used for portrait shots.

Filters are cheap and can add a lot of punch to your pictures, so make sure to consider which ones to add to your arsenals of digital camera accessories.