I find that when I photograph a insect against a white background like a sheet of paper the photo will have a light grey background rather than a perfect white (R-100%, G-100%, B-100%). While the photo looks fine by itself when it is presented against a white background like that of this site or a photosite like flickr the light grey background of the photo can look quite dingy by comparison, as in the photograph above. [click to continue…]

For modern digital cameras, UV filters do little to reduce haze and are primarily used to protect the lens from dust and fingerprints, but they can also protect the lens from an impact or fall. The first thing I do with all my lenses is protect them with one of these filters. Last weekend I carelessly swung my camera bag over my shoulder without checking that it was closed and my 18-55 mm kit lens fell from a height of a meter onto asphalt impacting directly on the lens face. As you can see from the photo above the filter was smashed but if you mouse over the photo you can see that lens was left without a scratch. Unlike Ken Rockwell it only took a little over two years for these filters to pay off. I already have a replacement filter on the way from amazon. On a unrelated note, this filter is also useful as a control in my polarized light bioassays.