GND Filters

[arith]

I've bought some filters but I'm not very impressed; what filter is needed for these very rough examples of photo's? They are both GG1+GG2 and unfortunately these are soft graduated Kood filters. Will a hard graduated do the trick or am I expecting too much?

Finally how do you clean them since they pick up dust too easilly.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Arith,

It's very VERY hard to get an appropriate foreground exposure when you're shooting full-on into the sun.

For normal sky -v- foreground like you have I'd be using a 3-Stop hard-edge GND filter.

In this picture I had 2 GND filters totalling 6 stops - and the sun still blew (as one would expect).

[Blazing fire]

For relatively static subjects, I would think that HDR bracketing would be the best option. At least that's what I would do if I face such a situation.

PS: I'm always amazed at Colin's knowledge of ND filters...

[arith]

That's what I wanted to know Colin, and take a picture like yours. Now I have to spend a little more on a hard edge GND 8 or 3 stop and then I can stack them and capture the (different) scene with 1-3 brackets.

Can I use a damp cloth to wipe them down since it takes ages to clean them using a pen device.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Arith,

Although I have no personal experience, I can see that with the two examples you posted, you have two things that are going to make life even more difficult;
a) you have foreground subjects protruding into the sky
b) you hve reflective surfaces in the lower part of the picture

Both these will not repond well to treatment with a GND, hard or soft, alone and Blazing Fire's suggestion is probably the way to go if you can - tricky with trees and wind though.

As Colin says, it is going to be almost impossible to retain detail in the sky part of the foreground object and there is a risk of the reflection on the ground, or any other horizontal reflective surface, of it being brighter than the sky, which will just look odd.

I'm sure it can be done, with suitable care in PP - these are just things to watch out for.

Cheers,

[arith]

Hi Arith,

Although I have no personal experience, I can see that with the two examples you posted, you have two things that are going to make life even more difficult;
a) you have foreground subjects protruding into the sky
b) you hve reflective surfaces in the lower part of the picture

Both these will not repond well to treatment with a GND, hard or soft, alone and Blazing Fire's suggestion is probably the way to go if you can - tricky with trees and wind though.

As Colin says, it is going to be almost impossible to retain detail in the sky part of the foreground object and there is a risk of the reflection on the ground, or any other horizontal reflective surface, of it being brighter than the sky, which will just look odd.

I'm sure it can be done, with suitable care in PP - these are just things to watch out for.

Cheers,

Sorry I did it on purpose to detect chromatic aberration and lens flare. They were never intended to be good photo's but highlight faults. I'm a bit fed up of taking pics of my local church but I'm due in hospital soon and have to take it easy.

I plan on taking a pic of two bridges; a concrete monstrosity in front of Ferry Bridge with the sun directly ahead. A nice stone wall is a barrier to the river right up to it and because of swans by the Ferry Bridge I thought HDR is only possible with only 3 bracketed frames 2 ev apart taken in less than a second.

I usually only go out to take a planned photo but on the way check out the next one.

[Colin Southern]

That's what I wanted to know Colin, and take a picture like yours.

No worries. With that shot of mine I stacked two filters AND took a wide bracket of shots ... the image you see isn't a composite though; I just selected the best of the bunch from what I took. It also required a LOT of fill light and a bit of hand dodging/burning etc. Definately one of my tougher images.

Can I use a damp cloth to wipe them down since it takes ages to clean them using a pen device.

I just use a soft cloth and a bit of "L-Breath" - seems to work OK for me.

[arith]

Cheers Colin; I was using a lens pen and when I finished one the other was dirty again. Bit of an exaggeration but that is what it felt like.

[Colin Southern]

Cheers Colin; I was using a lens pen and when I finished one the other was dirty again. Bit of an exaggeration but that is what it felt like.

No worries. I mostly just try to keep them smudge free - little specs of dust don't show, but scratches can (will) promote flare. Filter clenliness isn't as critical as you might first think (try popping a bread crumb on your front element and see if you can see it whilst looking up).