Autumn Color - Using Singh Ray Vari-ND

[Yan Zhang]

Recommended by Colin, I got my Singh Ray Vari-ND filter when I traveled to US last October. I tried this filter first time when I came to a local community park in Philadelphia one day morning. I was able to shoot several stops slower when the light was already quite strong.

Comments welcome.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Yan,

Great to hear that you're putting it to good use - great bit of kit isn't it

By the way, your image isn't showing up at my end - not sure why.

[Yan Zhang]

Hi Yan,

Great to hear that you're putting it to good use - great bit of kit isn't it

By the way, your image isn't showing up at my end - not sure why.

Thanks Colin. You indeed taught me a lots of knowledge and ideas for landscape photography. Unfortunately, from Feb I was too busy to go out to take photos.

I don't know why the image couldn't show up in your side, here seems fine. I attached it again here as a thumbnail form, in case other people have the same problem.

[Bill44]

Love the colour and the composition, but the out of focus leaves are very very distracting.

[Yan Zhang]

Love the colour and the composition, but the out of focus leaves are very very distracting.

Bill,

Thanks for your comments.

I actually shot two versions, one with slower exposure to let leaves become blurred, the other was not, see below. I would be interested to know what people think between these two.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Yan,

For this "golden autumn" type of shot, I'm not sure the moving (and hence blurred) leaves work.

However, if the shot were to include more sky, which just happened to be full of looming dark clouds, with a bit of smudge on them and wildly waving tree branches, it would make an excellent 'stormy day' photo.

But anyway, you weren't aiming for a masterpiece, you were just trying out the filter, I'd say you proved it works!

Happy shooting with it,

[Colin Southern]

I've seen the "blurred" technique used elsewhere, but unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of it. Great for water to get a smooth effect, but for things that aren't supposed to be smooth, it just doesn't have the right effect in my mind.

I've found that when shooting moving things (water, cloud etc) shutter speed is critical - and it's not just a case of "the faster" or "slower" the better; often there is a very specific range that "works" for an image, especially clouds.