{"id":306,"date":"2009-01-10T08:14:32","date_gmt":"2009-01-10T16:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/?p=306"},"modified":"2018-09-09T18:20:24","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T02:20:24","slug":"a-ten-step-program-for-grad-nd-filters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/2009\/01\/10\/a-ten-step-program-for-grad-nd-filters\/","title":{"rendered":"A Ten-Step Program for Grad ND Filters"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a couple of Lee graduated neutral density filters in my camera bag.\u00a0 I don’t use them very much because I’m kind of an HDR guy.\u00a0 But the past couple of mornings we’ve had some very clear sunrises and given the location of our home in the Southern California foothills this turned out to be a good opportunity to play around with my grad ND filters.<\/p>\n

I discovered a few very interesting things.\u00a0 I’m just going to provide a checklist here without any illustrations.\u00a0 Hopefully it will make sense.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Hand hold the filter in front of your lens.\u00a0 Grad ND filters whether they are the large Lee filters like I have (4X5) or the smaller Cokin filters are rectangular in shape.\u00a0 You can purchase and use the holders that are available for them but with a little practice and a modicum of coordination it is easier and more effective actually to hand hold them.<\/li>\n
  2. Make sure when you hand hold your filter that it is flush with the front of the lens barrel.<\/li>\n
  3. Use a remote release.\u00a0 It is a lot easier to hold the filter in one hand and the release in the other than to try to press the shutter on the camera.<\/li>\n
  4. Use Live View.\u00a0 Most if not all new dSLR cameras come with some form of live view.\u00a0 This is indispensable when hand holding a grad ND filter.\u00a0 You can move the filter up and down and see the effect it has without having to peer through the viewer.<\/li>\n
  5. Shoot aperture priority.\u00a0 This is probably not a hard and fast requirement but most landscape photographers shoot aperture priority anyway.\u00a0 So for the rest of this discussion we assume we’re shooting aperture priority.<\/li>\n
  6. Use the histogram to check your exposure.\u00a0 It shouldn’t be necessary to make this statement but many photographers on my workshops say the best tip they got from the workshop was how to use their histogram.<\/li>\n
  7. Set your exposure compensation.\u00a0 Using a grad ND filter doesn’t guarantee that the overall image won’t be over or under exposed.\u00a0 You still need to check your histogram and adjust your exposure compensation accordingly.\u00a0 You want to set exposure compensation so you don’t get any highlight or shadow clipping – especially highlight.<\/li>\n
  8. ‘Bracket’ the placement of your grad ND filter.\u00a0 Try to place the grad ND filter visually (preferably using Live View) to what appears to be the optimum placement.\u00a0 Then take a series of exposures with the gradation placed higher and lower in the frame.<\/li>\n
  9. Don’t try to bracket visually.\u00a0 Your eye’s are not precise enough to do that.\u00a0 Here’s the trick.\u00a0 Use your shutter speed to bracket.\u00a0 “What is he talking about?” you ask.\u00a0 Here’s an example.\u00a0 Suppose you set the gradation where you think it ought to go and get an exposure of f\/16 at 1\/8 sec.\u00a0 Take a second exposure but this time adjust the filter by moving it up or down so that the exposure is 1\/10 sec.\u00a0\u00a0 Make another exposure at 1\/12.\u00a0 Now make a couple of exposures going the other way – 1\/6, 1\/5, etc.<\/li>\n
  10. Observe the histograms of your ‘bracketed’ exposures.\u00a0 You will notice that the dynamic range will vary from one exposure to the next.\u00a0 Choose the exposure with the histogram you like the best.\u00a0 I prefer histograms that are more compressed, that have a little breathing space on both the black and white ends of the scale.\u00a0 The other thing is, the histogram doesn’t lie.\u00a0 Trust it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So that’s it, a ten-step program for using graduated neutral density filters.<\/p>\n

    Here’s your assignment.\u00a0 Go out and give it a try.\u00a0 And when you do, why don’t you come back here and add a comment to let me know how it worked for you.<\/p>\n

    I know I’m going to be using my grad ND filters a lot more, now that I understand them better.<\/p>\n

    To see more of my work click in http:\/\/RalphNordstromPhotography.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Our next workshop is in Death Valley on Feb 14-17, 2009.\u00a0\u00a0Join Jack Graham and me for three days of exciting photography,\u00a0intensive personalized one-on-one training and the simple joy of just being out in nature.\u00a0 Register by the end of January and take a 10% early registration discount.\u00a0 For more information check out 2009 Death Valley Workshop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    (2333)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have a couple of Lee graduated neutral density filters in my camera bag.\u00a0 I don’t use them very much because I’m kind of an HDR guy.\u00a0 But the past couple of mornings we’ve had some very clear sunrises and given the location of our home in the Southern California foothills this turned out to … Continue reading “A Ten-Step Program for Grad ND Filters”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,64,4,6],"tags":[184,87,198,196,195,197,199,31],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-how-to","category-how-to-articles","category-journal","tag-bracket","tag-death-valley","tag-exposure-compensation","tag-foothills","tag-graduated-neutral-density-filter","tag-live-view","tag-photography-workshops","tag-southern-california"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Nl7-4W","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3869,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/3869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}