What Is A Lens Hood For?
Unlike other fancier accessories like new lenses or external flashes, lens hoods don’t seem like the most exciting add-on. However, in the right circumstances, when you know when to use them and how to use them correctly, lens hoods can dramatically increase the quality of your photography.
What Is A Lens Hood?
A lens hood, often referred to as a lens shade, fastens to the front of your lens and prevents flare from appearing in your pictures by blocking stray light from entering the edge of the lens. Additionally, it can help protect your lens from damage.
When Should You Use A Lens Hood?
- When you are taking a brightly lit photo
If you take photos in bright sunlight, you will have noticed the presence of lens flare on some of the final images. Sometimes this is a desire effect and can make images look dramatic, but most of the time it is an unwanted artifact. A lens hood can help prevent lens flare from appearing by blocking excess light from outside of the frame from entering the camera’s optics. This can also help reduce the “hazy” effect that sometimes occurs at the edge of brightly lit photos. - When you want to increase the contrast of your image
When you use a lens hood, it can increase the contrast between the lightest and darkest elements of your image. This effect may be more noticeable depending on the lens you are using. - When you want to protect your lens
If you are taking photos in a busy or unpredictable environment (like a protest or a music festival) where you are worried about your lens being damaged, a lens hood can help protect it. While the front of your lens will still be vulnerable, it is less likely to be damaged if someone bumps into you.
When Should You Not Use A Lens Hood
While lens hoods are extremely useful for the reasons listed above, and most photographers who own them have them on their camera 24/7, there are some situations where you might not want to use one. Such as…
- When you want lens flare
Sometimes you want to have lens flare in your images for dramatic effect. - You are using a lens which is not compatible with the lens hood
Some lenses are too small and will end up capturing the edges of the hood in the image. Other lenses and filter will sometimes not be compatible with a lens hood. - You are taking photos in high winds
Excessively windy conditions can make using a lens hood unstable as it will act like a windsock and make it harder to hold your camera steady.
Should You Use A Round Hood or a Tulip Lens Hood?
Almost all lens hoods fall into the category of either a round or tulip type. Round hoods tend to be a little cheaper and often the lens hood that comes bundled with a lens will be a round hood. However, in most cases you will get better results using a tulip-style hood. This is because the tulip hoods are made to completely block ambient light.
The petal hood design is the perfect shape as camera sensors are rectangular. The tulip hood’s four notches give the four corners of a picture the most space possible while blocking the light from all other angles. However, you need to attach the tulip hood and rotate it to exactly the right position for it to be most effective, while a round hood will work in any rotation.
Start Using A Lens Hood Today To Get Better Photos
Hopefully you now understand the benefits of using a lens hood. If you have one, you should start using it – you’ll be surprised what a difference you’ll see in your photos. If you don’t already have one, you can find lens hoods for less than £10 on Amazon. Obviously, like all photography equipment, you can find high-end versions which cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Whichever you choose, just make sure it fits the dimensions of the lens you are using.