PP or Graduated ND fillters
Mar 24, 2017 15:13:35 #
billnikon
Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
rmalarz wrote:
Or, rather, take one very meticulously exposed photo and be done with it.
--Bob
--Bob
If the sky is 10 stops brighter than the foreground, good luck with that line of thinking.
Mar 25, 2017 20:41:42 #
Mark1948 wrote:
As an old newbie I'm seeking the wisdom of the collective. Whether to invest in a good & expensive set of graduated ND filters or try to learn to balance too bright skies and darker foregrounds with post processing tools. ALL thoughts & suggestions are appreciated.
As some have pointed out, whether to use Grad ND filters or use PP for balancing is often a personal choice. And which to use and when, I can simply say "It depends!"
My suggestion is to start out with one GND and see how you like it. I have a 3-stop rectangular filter, soft edge graduation, and find it pretty good for most situations. If you especially like taking sunrise/sunset images, you might want to either go to a 4-stop or buy two different ones and double them up when more darkening is called for. Hand-holding the filter [rather than using a holder screwed into the lens] makes it easier to move from shooting with one to shooting without. In some situations the filter will be sufficient to accomplish what you want. Other times you will want to use both a filter AND PP. If I am not sure about whether I will get what I want with the filter, I will do some bracketed photos too! I agree that getting as much done in the camera as possible is preferable. No amount of PP will bring back blown out highlights, and is limited in how much sharpening it can do. Having image quality to start with will produce a better result when editing later.
Another type of grad ND is the Reverse grad ND. I don't own one, but it appears to be quite useful if you only want to darken that horizon, and let the foreground and sky show through as you see them. Might be buying one later.
Bracketing is best done on a tripod so the photos won't exhibit "ghosting". This will let you make as many different exposures as you want, based on the dynamic range of the scene.
Don't forget to have a circular polarizer, too. It also will darken the image to some extent, and decrease reflections while giving colors more depth.
Mar 25, 2017 21:09:50 #
rook2c4 wrote:
Exposure bracketing is great, but there are situations when bracketing is simply not an option.
And how often do those come up, especially in situations where you want to use a grad?
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.