The debate among people has been going around on this topic for quite some while of time. Getting to the conclusion that the prior one is better or the later one is better cannot be said just in a moment. Between lens hood or polarizer both tools have fundamentals that need to be technically analyzed and understood only then one could be able to give the best outcome in the pictures. They are the best investments at a low cost for a photographer.
Lens hood:
A lens hood or a lens shade is a small device material that is fixed on the front of the camera to make light adjustments. It physically protects the camera lens from damage but its basic reason is to avoid or block the camera lens from excessive lights and glare so that the shades of pictures and colors manipulation. It has two styles because of the shape of a tulip and a flower petal style.
Polarizing filter:
Polarizing filters have a quite similar purpose to manipulate the lighting of the camera lens they can compress and darken the shades of the picture. They are like colors sunglasses for our eyes that manipulate the sunlight of nature and give different shades in the picture the same it does for a camera lens. It is mainly used in nature pictures and also gives better reflection images.
The difference:
The right moment and timing are the key for photography the moment is important. To decide to use a lens hood vs polarizing filter depends on the place and lighting it gets. As the job of a lens hood is to flare the excessive light from the lens, they are best for outdoor photoshoots in a sunny place especially on a beach where the sunlight hits your face. It works better with indoor photos with more lighting on special occasions.
Here is where the difference in them arises the polarizing filter allows the lens to get through the different range of color tones by darkening the light effect in images. While getting a picture of an ocean or sky helps us capture the color of nature in a pure way that a photoshop or a filter would add up for a processed photo. Playing to use a circular polarizer filter helps us find differences in the images gradually that we even don’t understand at the moment.
Experimenting lens hood on a polarizing filter will help us work with both and get a different experience on pictures.