neutral density filter

[robpendragon]

Does anyone use a neutral density filter? Should it be a necessary part of my gear?

[Whiplash-GT]

they come in handy on bright days to bring down the sky and/or on timed exposures where you want to increase the exposure times
ever take a picture of a waterfall? i'll close up the aprature and add an ND8 to get at least a few second exposure to get that milky water look
i personally would never be w/o one, but i shoot a lot of "slow"

[Edmund]

Rob, I have used them in the past with my Nikon film SLR. They are a must but most people are slow to experiment (myself included) so they buy one and very rarely use it. It's great for landscape shots where the dynamic range is greater then our film or sensor meaning how much latitude do we have. If I take a picture of a sunset and spot expose for the sky (away from the sun) then the foreground will most likely be black. So now I could put on my 2-stop graduated neutral density filter and line up my horizon and open up two full stops and now You would see some good detail in the foreground. In essence what we are tryin to do when using a ND filter is to retain our Highlights and Black's to increase the Dynamic range in our image. IMHO. Hope this helps, boy did I get off track, Yes I use both fixed and graduated ND filters.
Eddie

[JulieM]

Hi Eddie, what's the difference between a fixed and graduated NDF? I can guess what it means technically, but how does their use differ?

[Whiplash-GT]

the fixed ND is a solid color

the graduated is colored at the one end while clear on the other

http://www.cokin.com/ico3-p1-2.html

[JulieM]

So graduated would be for scenes which have a roughly straight line between areas which need to be exposed differently, like a horizon?

[Tom K]

Hi Rob;

I have both the graduated and the fixed and very seldom use them. To me
the most useful filter ( not trying to start an argument here) is the circular polarizer. It is super for sky, it will darken the blue and works well for water reflections. Also when set to its darkest point it will eat up a couple of stops of light.

Tom

[Whiplash-GT]

Originally Posted by JulieM

So graduated would be for scenes which have a roughly straight line between areas which need to be exposed differently, like a horizon?

yes ma'am, that is correct

[Whiplash-GT]

i like circ. polarizers too, but more for removal of glare etc from glass
i think i've only used mine tho about 5 times
i much prefer the "non-destructive" ND (that sounds a lot worse than it is, neutral density is just that tho...it doesn't affect anything but the EV)

[Edmund]

Julie,I personally like the Sing Ray filters and there is a good example of how they work here.
http://www.singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html
Eddie