I recently invested in a set of the stunningly cool Fractal filters to add creativity to portraits. Not only do these things look like the most badass set of knuckle-dusters you’ve ever seen, I found them really fun to work with during Falon and Glen’s bridal portrait session. Creative lighting effects are a great way to enhance the look of your portraits, and the Fractal filters are an inexpensive way to add an endless source of variety.

Combined with the setting sun behind the trees, I was able to move the filters around to get a cool kind of halo effect which I really liked. These photos are all using the square Fractal filter, which is a big circle gridded with a pattern of squares (kind of. I’m good at descriptions, right? See what it actually looks like at the bottom of the page).

Kind of losing Glen a bit in this one, but I love how the light is framing Falon.

I really like this one. The filters are easy to use as you just sort of move them around while snapping away, to get a variety of effects. This was shot with my Canon EOS 5D Mark II with my Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 wide open. The low f-stop is key to getting the Fractal result.

More of a subtle effect on this one, using the Pac-Man Fractal filter. I don’t think that’s what it’s actually called. But it’s a circle with a triangle taken out of it, so… it looks like Pac-Man.

I like how this one looks like fire. By this time of the evening, there really wasn’t much light coming through those trees, so I love that the Fractals bring a bit of punch to the light and give it something of a whimsical feel. It feels like an overlay added in post, but shoots like this SOOC.

They also work really well to block out unwanted elements from the background. It wasn’t so much of an issue here, because the setting was pretty stunning, but the Pac-Man filter in particular is great for screening chairs and tables and other random junk out of the background of reception and indoor shots.

Here are the three filters that you get in the set.

Pac-Man filter for scale. See what an awesome knuckle duster it makes?

They come in a high-quality carry case, which I usually slip onto my dual Spider Holster belt.

Check out more about the Fractal filters here, and see more examples of what you can do with them.

Have you seen the Fractal filters in use before? What effect do you like best?