*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com
What are lens hoods? When should we use them? In today’s episode with the photographer David Bergman and AdoramaTV we will learn why David always uses a hood and why it is so important.
David explains: “In certain conditions you might see something called lens flare on your photos. Flare often shows up as random bright spots, and it can also wash out your images, making the photos look flat, with less contrast.”
“The reason this happens is because the front of your lens has a big piece of glass, and if light hits it at just the right angle, it’ll skim across the glass and create flare.”
“To block the light from doing that, you should use a lens hood. Usually prime lenses have flat ended hoods, while zooms have ones that are petal shaped, to cover the entire zoom range. How it works, is that you’re effectively extending the end of the lens barrel past the glass, just like when you hold your hand out over your eyes to block the Sun. You won’t see a difference most of the time, but in those situations where the light would have hit the glass at just the right angle, the hood will usually block it.”
“This will get rid of those bright spots, while also increasing the contrast of your image. So you might only think it’s necessary to use a hood in those specific conditions right? But listen, I always have the hood on my lenses! Why? Basically protection. I don’t know about you but when I walk around with a camera on my side, it always bumps into things.”
“Whether you use a filter or not, the hood is like a protective cocoon, covering up that expensive piece of glass, and it’ll keep you from bumping, touching, or scratching it, so when I take the hood off, one reason is that if I want to create lens flare for effect, in these tip videos we sometimes use flare creatively, so we take the hood off and angle the lens just right, to get that look. The only other time you would take the hood off is, if you’re using a pop-up flash. The bigger Pro lens hoods sometimes block part of that light, and create a shadow at the bottom of the image. So I’d remove it for that shot, and then put it right back on when you’re done. Otherwise just leave the hood on, and you can set it, and forget it. You’ll find that it blocks out flare, and protects your lens from all kinds of potential bumps and bruises.”
Check out our WORKSHOPS in Los Angeles that teach you hands-on how to make great photos!
Watch the full episode with David Bergman and Adorama TV: