When you SHOULDN'T use a circular polarizer in photography...

Circular polarizers (otherwise known as CPL filters) are some of the most useful tools for landscape photographers. They help cut glare off of water and foliage, reduce haze, and can even increase contrast in the sky.

That being said, there is one situation where using a polarizer will actually hurt you...

When you're shooting with your wide-angle lens and you have lots of blue sky in your image, you'll want to avoid using a circular polarizer. This is because the polarizer will not polarize the sky evenly, resulting in some more saturated spots and darker than others. This is a huge pain to fix in post-processing. However, you can still use your polarizer when you have many clouds in the sky, but you should definitely avoid it when shooting a cloudless sky.

[minemasterSAM]

I don’t have a polarizer

Problem solved👍🏻

[RoyalJelly-qe]

Thanks man I'm new to photography and that's very helpful

[scarcat]

I love my polarizer and never knew this was a thing! (I typically don’t shoot wide) Thank you for the useful information

[skinnymarauder]

What if I want to have that gradient effect

[AlphaSierra]

How does this hold up for a linear polarizer? I got one just for kicks to compare with my CPL. Sometimes I don't feel like fiddling around with the CPL to find perfect polarity and want to "throw sunglasses" over the lens.

[karlmuster]

Another is when the subject is reflections in the water.
Edit: I was thinking linear polarizer, but this is still true for reflections of the sky.

[kfacpa]

Ha yes this is so true, but the irony is we (almost) always shoot wide in landscape photography

[SolomonSabbu]

Then what should I use ?? Please tell me

[cadmiumscarlet]

What is considered too wide in this case?

[bishopk]

I don't understand what they are talking. I mean I'm looking. What am I missing ?

[gman]

if you are cutting glare, like from water, and you are going for that, then fix the sky post!!!
Is best to have it than not.

[kurtrosenthal]

You know you can see the same thing just looking at the sky with polarized sunglasses.

[charles_corpuz]

it might be possible to reduce the vignetting in post?