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Guys hopefully some of you can help here but im looking at starting a filter kit, basically im after some ND grads for an increase in Dynamic range when i shoot late afternoon etc. They will be going on my 18-70 kit lens.... So heres what im planing on getting...

67mm adapter ring and filter holder.
120 grey grad (1 stop)
121 grey grad (3 stops)
121m medium grey grad (2 stops)

Whats everyones thoughts on this?

Cheers
Adam

Personally I do not think you need to invest in grads for digital unless you prefer shooting JPEGS to RAW. A better grad effect can be created in PhotoShop, particularly if you have foreground detail that rises through the grad.

Antsl wrote:Personally I do not think you need to invest in grads for digital unless you prefer shooting JPEGS to RAW. A better grad effect can be created in PhotoShop, particularly if you have foreground detail that rises through the grad.

I used to think the same thing, however by not using a physical ND filter on the lens when capturing the shot, is it still possible to attain the dynamic range required.....without bracketing exposures and merging them afterwards ?
By doing it in PP after the fact, you only get to play with the dynamic range available to the sensor (without ND filter), which in most cases is insufficient....hence the need for the ND filter.

I do see what you mean though about foreground objects occupying part of the graduated ND space and having it's exposure affected.

Can anyone put my query to rest ?

Adam,
I use ND filters to shoot sunrise. I am not a good photographer but these are commonly used by others.
I first bought Cokin filters. I must say they are not very good and I invested in Singh Ray filters, BIG difference for similar grade. I have a 121M and a 121L, P size. I think ND filters are great to get a nice sky, CPL does not cover wide angles and often gives an artificial look. PM me your address and I'll send you these filters. If you do not like them you'll be able to give them to someone else .

Antsl wrote:Personally I do not think you need to invest in grads for digital unless you prefer shooting JPEGS to RAW. A better grad effect can be created in PhotoShop, particularly if you have foreground detail that rises through the grad.

Anthony, I've tried doing this with RAW and found that if you have a darkish foreground and fluffy white clouds on a sunny day, I can't get enough dynamic range into the image. If I expose for the clouds, I get too little detail in the foreground which produces noise when you try to lighten the shadows. If I expose for the darker foreground the clouds are blown.

I guess the answer is multiple exposures say 1EV apart and bring them into photoshop as layers then blend carefully. Or just one shot exposing for the foreground and then bringing multiple copies of the same image into photoshop, say 1EV apart and blending layers. I guess, either way it's the same thing digitally as what you are doing with grads.

I think I've answered my own concern. Thanks for bringing the subject up Adam and for the inspiration to think it thru Anthony.

Cheers
John

John,

having just read parts of Thom Hogan's D200 book, he said that modifying the exposure in PP will not give you the same as the equivalent exposure in the field.

I'll find the section and quote the reasoning later on.

André

Antsl wrote:Personally I do not think you need to invest in grads for digital unless you prefer shooting JPEGS to RAW. A better grad effect can be created in PhotoShop, particularly if you have foreground detail that rises through the grad.

I understand what you mean but quite often i find myself struggling to get images that have minimal lost shadow detail in the forground and no bown out sky..... and i agree when theres a foreground detail rising i have done a HDR image with photoshop but i believe most of my landscape images could be improved with a simple grad filter..... and no extra mucking around with my images in photoshop.....


Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions

Get the filters. I've just invested in a set of Cokin P filters and adapters and the results are great. Graduated ND are the go.

radar wrote:having just read parts of Thom Hogan's D200 book, he said that modifying the exposure in PP will not give you the same as the equivalent exposure in the field.

This is what he has to say about using one image and just changing the exposure:

Beyond -1EV compensation in Capture, you'll almost certainly get posterization of highlight data, while beyond +1EV you'll begin pulling up visible noise.

If that's all you need for doing HDR, you probably are okay, but your results would be better if you have more range to work with. So doing multiple bracketed exposures, is better in the end, if you have that luxury. BTW, I use a set of grad ND filters and doing sunrise/sunset certainly makes a big difference.

HTH,

André