82mm DHG Lens Protect Photo Filter - Marumi Japan - NEW US $37.95

Clear UV Filter Protection Photo for Lens 55mm US $14.00

Clear UV Filter Protection Photo for Lens 58mm US $14.00

Clear UV Filter Protection Photo for Lens 62mm US $14.00

Clear UV Filter Protection Photo for Lens 67mm US $14.00

Clear UV Filter Protection Photo for Lens 72mm US $14.00

Clear UV Filter Protection Photo for Lens 77mm US $14.00

46mm Skylight - 1A - Photo Filter - Protect Lens - Generic - NEW Bulk BF US $3.99

Lens Hood Protection for Camera Photo Canon Powershot G1X US $16.00

Tiffen 55MM UV Haze-1 Lens Protective Filter (photo bx3) US $10.95

GRIFFIN CLARIFI iPHONE PROTECTIVE CASE W/ BUILT IN MACRO LENS FOR CLOSE UP PHOTO US $11.99

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At least Tiffen is one of the best available.

Many people use a skylight or UV filter to protect the front glass of the lens, but you can also buy high quality plano glass filters for that purpose. Whatever you do, at least buy a decent quality filter instead of trying to get off cheap.

Personally, I'd say the first place to start for effects is a polarizing filter. You want a "circular" polarizer. Check these examples and you will see what it does: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/2197308037/

You might also find a neutral density filter (varying degrees of darkness are available) useful for taking shots of bright subjects at wider apertures or slower speeds.

As far as all the rest, you can do this in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Okay, I don't want to argue with anyone about how it's better to use the real filter, but our asker can try a few in Photoshop (etc) "for free" and see which ones will be the most useful before you start spending money on the real thing.

Or, go here http://www.thkphoto.com/products/hoya/index.html and see what you can learn.

Or here http://www.tiffen.com/tiffen_filters.html Tiffen makes a kit to get you started on filters, if you think you want more than one. They include a polarizer, a UV filter and a warming filter. B&H Photo and many other places sell this kit.

Many people use a UV filter simply to protect the front element of their lens from damage. "UV filters absorb ultraviolet rays which often make outdoor photos hazy or indistinct." (from: http://www.thkphoto.com/products/hoya/gf-01.html )

We get this question often enough that I decided to upload a sample to Flickr showing the same subject taken with and without a UV filter. Download the image, cut a small section out of the top half and drag it to the same section in the bottom half and see what you think. The photos were taken about 15 seconds apart in subdued sunlight, so I think the lighting was virtually identical for each. There was no post-processing at all so you can make a fair comparison. I will not comment any further and let you decide for yourself if there is any color shift.

The picture was taken with a Nikon D200 at ISO 100 with the Nikon 18-200 VR lens @ 112 mm at f/5.3.

Here's a comparison that I did by accident. Read the comments and you'll understand: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1793551691/

Buy a name brand like Hoya or Tiffen. Don't get cheap junk to put on the front of your fine lens. Personally, I am now switching over to plain high quality optical glass "filters" from Nikon for lens protection, even though they cost more than a good UV filter.

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