Help Files Camera and Photography Forum

For general camera equipment and photography technique questions. Moderated by another view. Also see the Learn section, Camera Reviews, Photography Lessons, and Glossary of Photo Terms.
Results 1 to 8 of 8
  1. #1
    learning member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    niles mi us
    Posts
    995

    graduated nd filters not needed!


  2. #2
    Learning more with every "click" mjs1973's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Mineral Point, WI, USA
    Posts
    7,561

    Re: graduated nd filters not needed!

    Thanks for posting this Mark. I'm not going to thro out my ND filter, but I will play around with this technique as well.
    Mike

    My website
    Twitter
    Blog


    "I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view."
    Aldo Leopold

  3. #3
    has-been... another view's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Rockford, IL
    Posts
    7,649

    Re: graduated nd filters not needed!

    This is probably the best way to do it if you've got the time, because you will have a lot more control over the final image. There are times that the ND filter will work probably as well too, and won't take the extra time in Photoshop so it's a good thing to use too. You can use either technique with either film or digital - just scan the film and there's the digital file!

  4. #4
    Ranter and raver.
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    .
    Posts
    187

    Re: graduated nd filters not needed!

    There is also a lot to be said of shooting RAW and compressing the dynamic range in post process. If I am shooting handheld and make sure to perserve some hightlight information, I find that it works very well, take little time to postprocess, and can be done without a tripod. It's not a replacement for the other method, just another alternative. I am thinking of getting a one stop nd split filter to help with the highlight preservation in this technique.

  5. #5
    Senior Member racingpinarello's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Mountain View,CA
    Posts
    849

    Re: graduated nd filters not needed!

    Overall it's a process that works well. I still use my grad nd filters because I don't want to leave the photo sight without having a shot. I don't want to rely on photoshop work to finish the job. The time it takes to set up a filter, you can have ten finished photographs, but if you did the photoshop way you would have to combine a total of twenty images. That takes time and I'm not very patient with this.

    Also, you have to be careful with moving objects if you take two exposures. If there is a bird that is flying then it will be at different spots, which doesn't work. Or if there is moving water, the same effect.

    I use this process when I forgot my filters or don't have time to meter correctly. Another good time to use the PS method is when there are a lot of trees and you don't want to have that transition line.

    Loren
    Loren Crannell
    LC Photography
    Visit My Website

    * Any photographer worth his salt has 10,000 bad negatives under his belt. - Ansel Adams

  6. #6
    Ghost
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Crystal Lake, IL
    Posts
    1,028

    Re: graduated nd filters not needed!

    As Loren says, trees have been the biggest kind of issue for me for landscape photography. Birds in the sky are easy enough to deal with but when you're trying to blend with moving trees it's a nightmare at times. I also can't stand working with twice the images if I don't have to. That's also why I like the RAW method someone else mentioned. GND's still have their place for sure.

  7. #7
    Learning more with every "click" mjs1973's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Mineral Point, WI, USA
    Posts
    7,561

    Thought I would give it a try.

    I decided to give the PS technique a try on some throw away images, before I got into anything that I really wanted to save. So here is the before and after shots. I didn't spend much time on these, but it was nice to get a feel for how this technique works.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails graduated nd filters not needed!-1st-pic.jpg   graduated nd filters not needed!-2nd-pic.jpg   graduated nd filters not needed!-final.jpg  
    Mike

    My website
    Twitter
    Blog


    "I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view."
    Aldo Leopold

  8. #8
    Obsessive-compulsive... Steph_B's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Cleveland, OH
    Posts
    404

    Re: Thought I would give it a try.

    Combining exposures is something I found out only about 8 months ago. It works also when you work with 35mm film cameras as long as you have the nerve to align the different frames properly once they are scanned (and that can take a while, mostly if you are as tedious as yours trully!).

    Here is another example that I posted a while ago in Critique.... In this example, I used a split ND (Cokin P120) which I keep complaining about because of its obvious magenta cast (I got rid of the cast in the combined exposure shot)... I also got rid of the filter!

    I bracketed the shot at +/-0.7 EV. The medium shot was unusable. I decided to combine the dark and light shots and see what would happen. The result is quite pleasing to the eyes, even though the shadows are still blocked. While not a 'keeper', I think this shot illustrates well the advantage of merging shots with different exposures.

    NOTE: In my (limited experience), combining exposures is applicable AS LONG AS you do not have more than 1.5-1.7 stop difference between the highlight and shadow shots. At 2.0 stop difference, you start having difficulties in merging the shots (they start to look artificial).

    This is a great little trick, albeit time consuming.

    I will not return my split NDs anytime soon though!


    Cheers,

    Steph.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails graduated nd filters not needed!-04-gbl-entrance-preview-dark.jpg   graduated nd filters not needed!-04-gbl-entrance-preview-light.jpg   graduated nd filters not needed!-04-gbl-entrance-preview.jpg  

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Do you use filters?
    By mjs1973 in forum Help Files
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 01-31-2005, 09:16 AM
  2. Using filters with digital SLR's, and what about B&W?
    By Todd Patten in forum ViewFinder
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 08-02-2004, 09:24 AM
  3. Who here uses filters?
    By Janie in forum ViewFinder
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 07-12-2004, 03:19 PM
  4. Clear glass filters - image degredation or no?
    By Sean Dempsey in forum ViewFinder
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 05-25-2004, 12:40 PM
  5. Best graduated ND filters?
    By GB1 in forum Help Files
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 04-08-2004, 01:40 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •