Amboss-Wolke (Cumulonimubus)

Seen on a flight from Stockholm to Zürich.

Silence

Stockholm

Gamla Stan

Stockholm

Frankfurt

Increasing color saturation with a polarizing filter

With Polarizing filter

Without Polarizing filter

The ōlloclip circular polarizing filter is an easy way to increase the color saturation by blocking polarized light reflected off surfaces and blocking polarized components of light scattered from gas molecules in the atmosphere.

Needless to say that *this* effect cannot be achieved by any software filter in Snapseed or whatever: the sensor of your camera is blind to the polarization of the photons hitting the pixels so this info will be lost. Yes, you can saturate by software filters but it will not be a selective saturation which distinguishes between light which carries 'colour' information from your motive and just a plain white reflected spectrum. The reflected light overlays the light which carries color information and 'dilutes' it.

Have a look at the windows of the tower on top of the dome and you'll see that in the first image the reflected light clearly is blocked by the polarizing filter whereas in the second image the reflections are visible. The same you'll notice on the lantern in the front. No way you could achieve this effect with a software filter.

If you look at the light coming from a certain point, let's say some point at the dome of the church, there will be light scattered off the green tiles and these photons will be 'green'. Nevertheless, the tiles are also reflective to some extend and the reflected light will be 'white' daylight (of course a single photon cannot be 'white' but the reflected spectrum won't have a preference for the color). If the light get's scattered on the green pigments the polarization information is lost, so this component of the light will be unpolarized. In reflection however a large amount of the light will keep it's polarization and thus you'll be able to block the polarized reflected light to some extend.

Due to the angular dependence a polarizing filter has the strongest effect with the light source (the sun) at 90° relative to the scattered/reflected light and it won't change much if you try to take a photo against the sun (0°) or with the sun directly behind you (180°). Ōlloclip 2x telephoto lens used.

The Ōlloclip Circular Polarizing Filter is multi-coated against reflections and actually I can't see any degradation in image quality caused by this filter. Nevertheless as the Ōlloclip doesn't have a lens shade I'd recommend to try to avoid direct light hitting the front element (by standing in the shade when taking a photo or shielding the front element with one hand).

Peterskirche Wien seen from the Graben.

Ōlloclip 2x Telephoto magnification

iPhone 4S + 2x Telephoto

iPhone 4S

iPhone 4S + 2x Telephoto

iPhone 4S

Some example pictures taken from the same position without and with the ōlloclip 2x telephoto lens on my iPhone 4S. I can see absolutely no degradation in image quality. For 99€ including the circular polarizing filter this clip-on lens increases the capabilities of the iPhone camera immensely.