How frustrating it is to find yourself facing a beautiful landscape, with incredible skies, suggestive rocks or a dreamy green meadow and see that we’re not able to represent it the way we’d like it, right?You visualized it, you stopped all those that wanted to accompany you on an excursion, you planted your tripod, framed it, made sure to place the right horizon, measured the light like that, without thinking too much about it (not even thinking about it much), and you find yourself in front of an image that not the best editors seem to be able to save.
In fact, even if you’re able to perfectly handle the two lights in the scene, the truth is that our camera can’t even get close to what our eyes are capable of doing, they’re images with too much difference between lights and shadows for our sensor to manipulate them properly.
- Now.
- Don’t despair.
- There’s a solution to almost everything.
- The solution to this problem is called Neutral Gradient Filter.
- Just like the title of this article?.
- And when you meet it you’ll think about how something so small can make you your best ally in landscape photography.
- Can we see it?.
A neutral gradient filter is tinted on one of its parts to reduce light input to the sensor in one half of the image, while the other is transparent so as not to change it. The term neutral indicates that, in addition to light subtraction, it does not affect the tones of the image.
Imagine the typical scene of a meadow, for example, with a sun at the top, a shimmering blue sky at the top and a dark green meadow at the bottom, although you are perfectly able to handle both lights, the truth is that your sensor, as you well know, can not. By placing the dark area of this filter in the sky area and the transparent area in the darkest area, you can compensate for the exposure of the scene, to get a well-exposed image in both areas of the photo.
To get started, you need to decide whether you prefer threaded (round) or square, for which you’ll need a filter holder, the former are more convenient to use as long as you plan to use only one. , have the advantage of being able to overlay multiple filters at the same time. In case you plan to use more than one, it’s best to opt for squares. I mean, if you see you’re going to be a landscape monster. , it is best to choose the rectangular ones, which will serve you not only for this type of filters, but for all types ;-). Otherwise, with a circular adapter, you save money by buying the adapter and taking it with you.
Or what’s the same, depending on how much ambient light stays in the tinted half. Filters start by compensating for 1 step (0. 3ND) up to 3 steps (0. 9ND). The most common are 0. 3 ND (1 stage), 0. 6 ND (2 steps) and 0. 9 ND (3 steps), although for perfectionists, there are some that compensate half a step: 0. 45 ND (1, 5 steps) or 0. 75ND (2. 5 steps).
The most used of all is the 0. 9ND that compensates for 3 steps, so if you can only get one, can you start with that?
Basically, we can make the transition of the dyed area more abruptly or smoother. If the horizon is clear, that is, if there is no element in the middle of the horizon that can show the use of the filter, we can use a strong transition gradient. On the other hand, if there are elements on the horizon (trees, houses, etc. ), it is best to use a filter with a smoother transition to mask the use of the filter.
Once you’ve chosen the framing and composition of your photo, all you have to do is calculate the light difference between the two parts of the image, this is calculated by measuring the light area in a timely manner and then the dark area. The difference between the two will give you the number of steps needed to compensate with the filter. To work with filters and perform such calculations, it is best to always work in manual mode, otherwise the camera will compensate for the exposure by varying other variables and will not be able to calculate the difference.
Like what:
Imagine that you measure the sky on time and that this gives you a correct exposure of 1/1000s yf/11 to 125 ISO. Then you measure the ad hoc soil and this gives you a value of 1 / 250s keeping the ISO and diaphragm values (which are those in which you want to maintain a good depth of field (closed diaphragms) and sharpness (ISO low)). The difference between the lights and shadows in your image is, in this case, 2 points, so for this scenario, you would need a gradient filter to compensate for this light difference. In that case, we would use 0. 6ND.
(No shutter speed: 1/1000s, 1/500s, 1/250s, 1/125s, 1/60s, etc. )
Yes and no. Power, you can. Now, the better the image you get directly from your camera, the better the quality of it, trying to recover the lights and shadows is never ‘free’, sometimes you lose a lot of quality in the attempt ?. And don’t forget, too, that in most contests, you value a minimum or no image editing, so if you plan to run for one, then less is more.
In this case, more expensive almost always means better, it is that simple, however, sometimes the improvements are invisible to ordinary people, so it is not necessary, unless we are looking for a professional use of the images, buy the most expensive ones.
Cokin is a brand that combines quality and price more than acceptable, so it is not a bad way to start, there are several starter kits that are quite economical and already offer the filter holder with several adapters for different optical diameters and the three conventional filters (1,2,3 stops). Here’s an example on Amazon for 61 euros.
Formatt-Hitech and Lee are filter references, but the price is soaring a bit. A Formatt-Hitech 0. 9ND with a smooth transition can be found for about 78 euros ($78) on Amazon and a Lee for about 94 euros ($94). Amazon as well.
As you can see, the difference is considerable, even if your resource source is unlimited, in this case it’s worth spending. Alternatively, with a Cokin kit, you can do wonders to get started.
Sometimes it’s surprising what something as simple as a filter can do to enhance your images, isn’t it? Do you think someone else would be interested in knowing what it is? So share it with him or her? Thank you and see you soon.