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Digital Camera Accessory - Some Filter Effects are Reproducible in Software, but Not All

SUMMARY: Filters are still useful even with the power available in modern photo editing software.

With the powerful features available in modern photo editing software such as PhotoShop, PhotoPaint, and Paint Shop Pro, you might think that filters are meaningless. This is not so. While you can reproduce the effects of a red (warming) and blue (cooling) filter easily in software by adjusting a photo's tone curve, other filter effects are not so reproducible.

For example, circular polarizing filters help remove glare in a photograph that can overpower details in a photo. Without using this filter on reflective surfaces on sunny days, note that no digital photo editing software can restore detail that never got recorded in the final picture. You might be able to use guesswork or cloning techniques to copy textures from one section of the photo to another, but the results are not perfect.