Lens Shades: You better love them!

It's not uncommon, back in the day, for a Mitchell camera or a Panavision camera to have a 20-thousand-dollar mat box. In reality, what the hell is a mat box? Filter holder? No, it's really a lens shade. Today, some of them are pretty damn expensive, but let's start with the simple one. Why would you spend $2,500 for a 70-200mm lens and not put the bloody shade on it? My God, look at the front element! The light is going to hit from every angle, and it's going to degrade the image! Flare, ghosting, blown-out, all sorts of bad stuff. This is going to make the $2,500 lens look like a Coca-Cola bottle. Use the right lens shade all the time! If you're using a filter, take the shade off and have a hand-held flag or gobo, call it what you wish maybe a hat, a piece of cardboard. Anything that will throw a shadow over the front element of the lens or filter to make the photographs better- a lot better. Some of the most inexpensive and simple tricks will make your pictures into a photograph.