Moment’s AntiGlare CPL Filter | Cut Reflections and Make Colors Pop

Cure Overly Bright Photos

Not every photographer wants to overcomplicate their setup, and fair enough. But if you’re looking to level up your outdoor shots or portraits with an Editoiral-like clarity nad dpeth, a solid CPL filter can seriously change the game.

They're definitely one of those tools that doesn’t seem like much, but once it’s on your lens, everything makes a lot more sense: colors get richer, skies get deeper, and those annoying reflections on windows or water are gone. Plus, it's easier to edit your photos in post, my Lightroom toggles smooth texture the highlights and shadows without added resistance. A god send for green and blue hues (I'm in the desert, so those are the hardest colors to get just right).

Many famous outdoor photographers, like Tiffany Ngyuen, swear by the use and overall benefit of CPLs, marking it as a necessary tool in her camera bag any time she leaves the house.

What Is The Purpose of a CPL Filter?

A CPL, or circular polarizer, works by cutting out polarized light—basically the scattered glare that bounces off shiny surfaces like lakes, glass, wet leaves, or even haze in the sky. The result is cleaner contrast, punchier greens, and a clarity you just can’t fake in post.

If you’ve ever shot near water or in the mountains and ended up frustrated by glare or flat light, this is the fix. It's simple, compact, and once you try it, you'll wonder how you ever shot landscapes without one.

When To Use CPL Filters

There are plenty of moments in everyday shooting when a circular polarizer makes a real difference. One of the biggest is dealing with reflections: on glass, water, or anything shiny. Shooting through a car window or inside a building with reflective surfaces can be frustrating. Light bounces everywhere, and suddenly you're stuck with streaks or ghosted outlines of yourself in the shot. A CPL cuts that glare, giving you a way clearer, cleaner picture. It does the same with water, letting you see below the surface or capture smooth, reflective scenes without that harsh white shine.

Skies are another area where a CPL quietly pulls its weight. When the light is too strong, skies can blow out and lose their rich depth. With the filter on, blues get deeper, clouds get more defined, and everything feels more balanced. The whole shot feels more intentional, like the colors are working together instead of competing for attention.

Then there’s haze — the kind that softens details and flattens colors on bright days. Truthfully, I find this among the most useful, especially on vacations or trips where you're shooting outdoor images. Leaves on trees, distant hills, even colorful signs can lose their edge in all that scattered light, which is painfully annoying if you're forced to shoot at midday during a city walk. A good CPL cuts through it, bringing back contrast and detail without overdoing it.

My General Thoughts

Of course, I work for Moment and believe we make top-quality products. I’m constantly astounded by the perfectionistic tendencies our gear team commits to and the many hours of hard-earned beers it takes to get there. But, I’m a fairly non-technical photographer; I avoid unnecessary gadgets and gizmos, filters included. I sighed in disbelief when asked to create photographs with our new CPL.

Nonetheless, I accepted the challenge and bribed my best friend, Eunice Beck, to gander around Arizona’s famous Canyon Lake for sunset. We packed our to-go coffees and tea, strapped our beloved cameras around our necks, and drove an hour East to a place where reflective surfaces and sunny skies covered the atmosphere.

At first, I didn’t really get the hype. I screwed the filter onto my lens, checked the screen, and yeah, there was nice detail in the water and sky (duh, Natalie, that’s the whole point), but it didn’t blow me away. Then I took the filter off, left the camera settings exactly the same, and that’s when it hit me.

Without the CPL, the sky was totally blown out, barely any detail, hardly any real color. The shadows in the foreground were murky and flat. But with the filter on, everything looked bolder. The image had way better contrast and clarity an the dynamic range felt richer, almost like that polished, punchy look you get straight out of an iPhone.

See what I mean:

A Closer Look

Despite the name, “circular” doesn’t refer to the shape of the filter, it’s about how the polarizing film works. Circular polarizers are designed to handle a wider range of reflected light than linear ones, which makes them more versatile in real-world shooting conditions. Whether you’re dealing with a bright lake, a hazy skyline, or reflections off a window, a circular polarizer is better equipped to handle it.

Admittedly it might make your image a little darker overall, but that’s part of the trade-off for all that contrast, clarity, and reflection control. Once you get the hang of dialing it in, the results speak for themselves, and it's way easier to edit in Lightroom than an overblown image.