This post is dedicated to James Santerre. I have the privilege of being in an exhibition with Jim (and some other wonderful photographers) right now at Cafe George on 300 George St in New Haven. I photographed with Jim recently on a CAP trip in DelMarVa and I was very impressed that even in frigid conditions he took out his split graduated neutral density filter. My Singh-Ray was in my camera bag, but I was too cold to bring it out (I was afraid that I would drop the expensive but amazing filter). I actually took a photo of Jim using the filter because I was impressed that amongst ALL of the great CAP photographers on this trip he was the ONLY one using one! (I also admit that even in good weather sometimes I get too lazy to take it out.)
Well, you MUST go see the exhibit at Cafe George because after you see Jim's photographs that are on display (mainly taken right here in Connecticut) you will either google right over to Singh-Ray OR if you already own a split graduated neutral density filter you will be inspired to take it out of your camera bag on your next trip! Jim has a great eye, which make his compositions sing, but his use of the split graduated neutral density filter really makes his photographs pop and sing! Kudos to Jim!
Perhaps we can entice Jim to do a workshop for us -- he could show us some "with" and "without" split graduated neutral density filter images and then discuss how and when he used them.
In defense of my admittance that my split graduated neutral density filter often stays in my camera bag I do use other Singh-Ray filters quite often and my Moose warming polarizer is on my camera lens 75% of the time. My favorite two Singh-Ray filters are the vari-ND filter. This is an AWESOME filter for photographing streams and waterfalls!! http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html. I see now they also have a Vari-N-Duo adds our LB Warming Polarizer to the Vari-ND -- both in one versatile filter http://www.singh-ray.com/varinduo.html. That will certainly go on my wish list. You can download the signh-ray brochure here: http://www.singh-ray.com/brochure.html
Filters are one of the more useful items in a photographers bag of tricks. Although, not only useful, they also give a photographer that creative edge when attempting something original. There is a vast array of filters to fit any lens, and of course almost any purpose, but only a few stand out as must haves for most photographers. Read the rest of the article here: http://www.smashandpeas.com/filters/
Polarisers, Neutral density, and Graduated Neutral Density filters can be an extremely useful addition to any photographers kit, but unless you know what you’re doing, and know when and where to use them, you may end up with more duff shots than you thought.
Graduated Neutral Density filters are the Landscape Photographers best friend. Great for balancing exposure of the sky with the land, these bits of glass or plastic are indispensable, although when you’re first starting to use them, they can be a little tricky. First of all you’ll probably need a set of ND grads, I have a set of Hitec ND grads with soft graduations, which come in 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 strengths, but you can also get hard graduations which basically graduate from clear to dark over a smaller area. Now when it comes to using them, you need to know what the difference in brightness between the sky and the foreground is, so that you can select the correct one to use and hence balance the exposure of the sky with the foreground. So for a 1 stop difference, you would use the 0.3 and for a 2 stop difference, use the 0.6, etc. To get the difference, you need to get the exposure for the sky, so point your camera at the sky (without the filter mounted). Lets say your camera is on Aperture Priority mode, set to f/16 and it gives you a shutter speed of 1/250s. You then point your camera at the foreground of your scene, and it gives you a shutter speed of 1/60s. From these settings, you can now see that the difference is 2 stops (1 stop from 1/250 to 1/125 and 1 stop from 1/125 to 1/60)and therefore you should use the 0.6 filter. All that is left is to compose the shot, align the filter so the graduation is in line with the horizon (dark part over the sky!) and take your picture. In tricky situations the use of a hand held light meter, such a Sekonic, might be needed but with a bit of experience you may even be able to guestimate which filter to use in most situations.
Read the rest here: http://www.smashandpeas.com/using-polarisers-and-nd-grads/
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