Lens Filters

[Tracey]

Or more to the point, the artistic lens filters.

With the post production software getting better and better, is there much need or call for lens filters these days.

The reason I ask is because I used to have a reasonable set (way back when) but I was looking at a photo the other day and thought it might look "nice" with a star filter ( 4 6 or 8 point effect). Does the software do this effect, or would I need to buy myself some nice artsy filters

[Ed Geraghty]

It never ceases to amaze me the effects which can be achieved by somebody wielding a copy of Photoshop, or even the GIMP.

But I'm not a photographer so I can't really answer that one.  In my opinion, it's probably better to do the effects in post-production, since you can get it "perfect" so long as you have a good photo to start with.  Anybody else?

[Hedgehog]

The idea in any photography is to get as near a finished product out of the camera as possible before you start messing in PS... if a filter helps you do that then so be it (tho' it's till weird when you hear the purist stalwarts say that there should be no playing around with post processing when they can chuck anything they like in front of the lens to make it look unreal)... however, an ND grad filter can actually make a photograph feasible where it otherwise would have been blown... no amount of PS work can get a blown sky back... & you can't beat the skies that a polarising filter produce.

For simple colour filters & tints PS/Gimp are fine (global & grad) once you learn how to use 'em.