Who can teach me how to use a Graduated ND filter?

[erno james]

Hey there Alex, if you arent out in the freezing cold, there

[Steve U]

Beautiful image Erno, I saw an article the other day, where the photographer reversed his lens hood and used to big red rubber bands to hold a welding filter in place for a 40 sec exposure in the middle of the day.


Have you used this method of holding a filter in place? It is a lot easier if you have a petal type lens hood, the rubber bands just slip over that and stretch to the filter in the front.


Steve

[Alan]

An alternative to using a grad ND filter is to try HDR to blend exposures - software like Photomatix is cheaper than a good grad ND filter (free to try, in fact).
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John's suggestion is good one, and my preferred method for most (not all) contrasty images. Photomatix does an excellent job.


Having said that, though, I do have the rectangular Cokin's. The holders do make things a lot simpler. Trying to hold the filter in front of the lens, with scenes that require rock steady conditions can be a challenge, so the holders give you one less thing to have to worry about. However, there is severe vignetting with FF cameras and wide lenses with the holders. After experiencing too much of this vignetting, I use HDR more, graduated ND filters less. A bit of further correction in Photoshop will take care of any loose ends.

[alex]

...if you arent out in the freezing cold, there's always the free option of hand holding the filtersin front of the screwed in CPL. i have been using a CPL with a 3 stop grad and a 2 stop soft handheld, but it is kinda a pain. it works though.

That's a nice shot, erno! I like the idea. I suppose if I'm just getting into using a ND filter, the bare-handed hold may be the place to start. If it doesn't work, I can always get more stuff, right?


And as was also pointed out (sorry, I can't remember who, and I searched for 15 minutes and couldn't figure out how to quote more than one person in one post at the same time), a petal-shaped hood and a rubber band might make for a good holder. I have the petal-shaped 17-55mm hood, so that might work fine.


It seems that a soft-gradient 3-stop ND filter might be where to start.


Alex

[seacritter]

Yes, your B+W screw on filter will fit behind the cokin-P holder.


When shooting landscape, my polarizer stays on my lens. I add the cokin-P holder in front and put on a modified cokin-P hood as well. I've even put my ND400 screw-on filter, my B+W deep CPL and the cokin holder and not gotten any vignetting...


You should start with a 2 stop soft ND grad. If you're just getting into this, the order to purchase these would be...


1. B+W KSM or Marumi Super DHG CPL


2. Cokin-P holder (less than $4 on ebay)


3. Hitech or Singh-Ray 2 stop Soft ND grad (on ebay, used Singh-Ray's are about $75, New Hitech's are about $30)


4. Hitech or Singh-Ray 2 stop Hard ND grad


5. Singh-Ray Daryl Benson reverse ND grad 3 stop


Then, fill in the 2 and 3 stop filters before purchasing the 1 stops...

[seacritter]

Another repost...

[seacritter]

Two of the best articles on nd's and nd grads...


<a target="_blank" title=" http://www.redbubble.com/people/peterh111/journal/4421304-the-ultimate-easy-guide-to-neutral-density-filters" href=" http://www.redbubble.com/people/peterh111/journal/4421304-the-ultimate-easy-guide-to-neutral-density-filters"]
http://www.redbubble.com/people/peterh111/journal/4421304-the-ultimate-easy-guide-to-neutral-density-filters[/URL]





http://www.nathangriffin.com/technical/how_to_graduated_nd.htm





Going to a strong nd filter (ndx400 or darker) is a natural progression after you master the grads...

[seacritter]

This was shot with a 3 stop soft grad filter and a screw-on CPL. I then brought it into lightroom and applied a grad filter and brought it back one stop...








My histogram ends up being a nicely formed bump right in the middle. This allows me to crank up the contrast. If the shot is kept within a 5 stop range, everything behaves well and it's an easy edit in lightroom...

[seacritter]

Here