ND Filter system for landscape photography question

[bvukich]

Free (almost) answer: learn how to black card.

You can pull more stops than is feasible with even the most diverse filter collection.
You can grad at any rate your heart desires.
You can even match terrain if you you're handy with a scissors.

You'll probably still want a modest collection of ND filters for when you need to adjust the overall exposure dramatically, but you wont need the grads.

Sorry, but you've lost me there - how do you 'black card'?

In a typical high DR situation of a dim foreground and bright sky, you expose for the ground and use a piece of non-reflective black cardstock to cover the sky for part of the exposure to effectively reduce the exposure of the sky.

A quick Google search for "black card photography technique" yielded this reasonably good explanation:

http://hanjies.blogspot.com/2009/10/black-card-photography-part-i.html

If you've ever done darkroom work (ok, I haven't either), you're effectively doing a dodge while taking the exposure instead of when making the print.

 

[cliffwang]

Can anyone tell me where I can find the product information of Lee NDG?

 

[Kernuak]

Can anyone tell me where I can find the product information of Lee NDG?

http://www.leefilters.com/index.php/camera/ndgrads

 

[revup67]

Basically - Cokin and Singh-Ray filers produce a magenta colour cast, especially when you stack them. So for instance if you stack a grad ND and an ND.

I agree with Stanley. I had the Cokin P series and sent them back. Not pleased at all. Then had the LightCraft Gradual Filter (think that was $320 USD). It couldn't hold up when at full strength as compared to the Hoya ND400 (9 stop). For my tastes, it was inconsistent and in some cases created unwanted effects. Ultimately went with a B&W 10 stopper and a HOYA ND Pro 1 Digital series filter (ND64). Have been quite pleased with both.

Here's a 13 second exposure at F10, ISO 100 with the B&W


Dana Point Harbor with B&W 10 Stop ND by Revup67, on Flickr

 

[ereka]

Free (almost) answer: learn how to black card.

You can pull more stops than is feasible with even the most diverse filter collection.
You can grad at any rate your heart desires.
You can even match terrain if you you're handy with a scissors.

You'll probably still want a modest collection of ND filters for when you need to adjust the overall exposure dramatically, but you wont need the grads.

Sorry, but you've lost me there - how do you 'black card'?

In a typical high DR situation of a dim foreground and bright sky, you expose for the ground and use a piece of non-reflective black cardstock to cover the sky for part of the exposure to effectively reduce the exposure of the sky.

A quick Google search for "black card photography technique" yielded this reasonably good explanation:

http://hanjies.blogspot.com/2009/10/black-card-photography-part-i.html

If you've ever done darkroom work (ok, I haven't either), you're effectively doing a dodge while taking the exposure instead of when making the print.

Thanks for the explanation - I might give that a go!

I could only afford to buy the Lee starter kit with 2 stop hard GND filter, so this technique could come in very handy for higher contrast scenes and scenes without a straight horizon and save me having to fork out for more very expensive GND filters. Anyway, I do like the idea that the black card can be cut to fit the horizon - much more flexible than the straight lines on a GND filter, if more fiddly, but there again landscape photographers spend a lot of time waiting around for the right light so I guess time spent customising a black card is not so much of an issue?

 

[Otter]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=883069&highlight=lee+circular+polarizer


This is the system I use.

Is that a Lee foundation kit? What kind of ND grad are you using?

 

[Otter]

Thanks for the advice on the Singh-Ray ND Filters, I was days away from buying a couple. I will definitely go with Lee then. I hear most people suggest starting with a .3 grad hard line and .2 soft grad. Is this enough? A friend of mine was saying anything less then .8 of a grad you hardly notice a difference. I'm not sure what kind of filters he's using. Does the amount of tint or darkness vary from company to company?

 

[Razor2012]

Speaking of Lee, does anyone know of a good place to purchase the Lee system (Canada or US) that has decent prices? Thanks!

 

[wickidwombat]

the advantage of the black card technique is you dont have another layer of glass involved to interfere optically
this technique can also be used with fireworks displays in bulb mode to get multiple bursts in 1 shot

its pretty clever and simple