Basics Of Photography - Free Digital Photography Book
A camera lens hood is a cylindrical piece of plastic, rubber, or metal which fixs over your lens to prevent light from shining directly into it. The hood can screw into the front of the lens or some hoods are linked to the lens and may slide out like a sleeve.
Initially when I first got my DSLR camera I had no idea what a lens hood was. I purchased my camera used from a friend. It had 2 lenses. One of the lenses had a hood. I do not ever used the lens hood at first. Yes, I had a film SLR camera when I was younger and I should've known what a camera lens hood was, but I don't ever used one hood then either. Eventually I decided to use the hood to see if it made a variation and it did. Now I use my camera lens hood most of the time.
Hoods can come in a range of shapes and lengths. They're generally cylindrical, but they can also be square. The edge of the hood can be straight or flowered. Flowering of the edge should help prevent vignetting when the hood is on properly. Hoods are made for each type of lens. Make sure you use the hood which was designed to be used with your lens. If you use a different hood you might get troubles, like vignetting.
Digital Photography Principles - Enhance Your Pictures
Lens hoods help reduce the shapes and streaks of color that bright light may cause in your picture known as lens flare. But that is not just one thing a hood may do.
Using a lens may also help make the colors in your photos look richer. It helps prevent you from getting blown out pictures.
If you wish to use flare as a creative effect in your photo you won't use a hood, of course.
Digital Photography Fundamentals - Protect Your Lens
Since the hood stands apart from the front of the lens the way it does it may aid protect your lens from damage. That's not the objective of a hood, but it can act as additional protection to prevent things in contact with the glass at the front of the lens.
It may also help protect your lens from getting water or dust on the front element.
Digital Photography Basics - Potential Difficulties with Lens Hoods
Sometimes hoods can cause difficulties with your pictures. If your hood is much too large it may block your camera's built-in flash. If that's happening you'll see that your photograph is darker at the bottom.
Sometimes you may notice vignetting when you use a certain lens hood. This all depends upon the lens your using and the size of hood. Lenses with a wider field of view can not use longer hoods. If you use a hood designed for the specific lens your using, you would not have this issue.
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