Masters of photography share: a lot of funny minutes are a sight to them when another amateur, trying to achieve photography, with a serious mine on his face in cloudy weather, puts a lens hood on the lens of his device. If at the same time the device itself is equipped with a flash, the scene generally looks like a joke. "Master Candidate" clearly does not understand why a lens hood is needed.
And it’s very easy to figure it out for yourself. It is enough to turn to face something bright: the sun in the sky, glare on the water, solar reflections on mirror or metal surfaces. The hand itself instinctively reaches out to cover its eyes with a "visor" above the eyebrows, isn't it?
To realize the second benefit of the lens hood, it’s enough to look at specialized photo forums for a bit, where there are images of lenses broken in the trash with mourning comments.
It seems that after this there will be no questions why a hood is needed.
If complex lighting conditions are formed during shooting, and it is impossible to change them in any way, use a hood that prevents the lateral rays that are not involved in the shooting process from creating glare and spurious illumination on the frame.
The shape of the hood can be divided into simple and complex. Simple include conical, cylindrical and pyramidal. The complex shape of the lens hood is petal, that is, with special cutouts oriented at the corners of the frame.
This shape is great for short-focus lenses, but the length of the petals should blur the focal length so as not to get into the frame. Lenses with normal focus fit all forms of lens hoods; their approximate length (30-40 mm) is affected by the lens diameter. The longest blends are telephoto (from 100 mm).
When you hear how photographers suffer from constant pollution of the lens in rain and snow, with damage from a sandstorm, flying gravel or an accidental blow from a branch, you understand why you need a lens hood in addition to fighting light "parasites." So amateurs putting on a lens hood in any weather are not so wrong.
Of the materials that go into the manufacture of the lens hood, plastic is most common. Blends made of metal and rubber are less common. All of them regularly perform their functions and are always ready, saving a much more expensive lens, to take a hit on themselves.
But it turns out that you can get a lens hood on almost any lens for the price of ... a piece of cardboard! For this, I must say thanks to the enthusiasts who post entire sets of patterns on their sites, thanks to which they can make a lens hood on any of the most popular photo lenses. It is enough to download the file, print the pattern on a sheet of cardboard, cut, bend, glue and paint.
However, professionals love to chic. Why do you need a hood, they say, if your own palm is always at hand? In addition, in most cases, an unwanted source of spurious illumination can always be hidden - for example, to make a tree crown between the lens and the sun . And besides, the masters of photo art are well aware of what a powerful technique in the frame can be glare or a person’s silhouette, black due to shooting against the sun.
So do not ask why you need a lens hood. Better ask yourself what you can do with it.