 RENE BALLARD |
How do I use a graduated ND filter I recently purchased a 3 stop graduated ND filter for my Canon Digital Rebel. The filter can be adjusted up or down to locate the lighter or darker section at various places in the picture. I am having difficulty knowing where to set the filter based on what I see in the view finder. I know the relative exposure values of various parts of the scene I am looking at, but I cant seem to position the filter in the right place to adjust for these values.
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Craig m. Zacarelli |
it should reduce the light coming in by 1,2,or 3 stops. so if the light is bright, or shall I say too bright it wont help that much.. but in the right circumstanses, it will do allot. Like setting the arepeture.. allowing more or less light into the the camera. When to use it and on which setting isnt a rule, its something you need to figure out by trial and error for yourself. They come in handy for using longer shutter speeds. sorry I cant be more of a help. Craig-
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Jon Close |
The typical use of this filter is in the situation where you have a dimly lit or shaded foreground subject and a very bright sky. The dynamic range from light to dark is greater than can be recorded on film/digital, so without the filter you have to choose between getting a good exposure on the foreground and letting the sky go white, or setting exposure to get a nice blue sky with cloud detail which leaves the foreground too dark. The graduated filter lessens the range by darkening the bright sky but not the dim foreground. The filter's transitional area is usually placed to correspond to the horizon.
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Jon Close |
P.S. The filter's graduation is uniform and may not match up well with your scene. A solution for digital shooters is to take 2 or more shots of the same scene, exposing each for a different element, and combining them in an editing program.
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RENE BALLARD |
I understand the theory of the filter, I just cant figure out how to know when the graduated area is at the horizon. When I look through the viewfinder, I cant see enough to tell.
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John Rhodes |
Hi Rene, I don't know if the rebel has a DOF preview feature, but if it does, you pretty much have to use it to see the position of the graduated edge of the filter. John
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RENE BALLARD |
Thanks for the comments. There was a nearly full moon out tonight, so I pedaled my bike out into the country and took some shots of it using the filter. I tried the DOF button, but it didnt seem to help. In the end, I placed the filter in the holder until the start of the dark area was about 1/4 of the way from the bottom of the lens and shot some photos, and they came out rather nice.
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