>>3360206I used some VSCO filters when I was starting out. Truthfully, they're helpful to get your eyes around how much you can play with tones and colours, since you can also see how the sliders in LR / Camera Raw are modified. So you "reverse engineer" the filters and know how to make them yourself, and more.
I've stopped using them since, like, 3 years. I need the exact colours I want on my photos, I create my own. Sometimes I still use them just to look at the effects and see what would look more interesting on a picture, then I start from scratch and edit.
>>3360222I work in nightlife, my lens is in constant danger, in 5 years I've never got a scratch on it. UV filters, especially $20 ones, reduce sharpness, introduce flaring, etc. You want UV filters only when they're expensive and you want to to use them only on occasions where the air is dangerous for the lens, so especially at sea, with all that salty sea air.
