 Alex T. Mizuno |
How to Shoot Sky with Grad ND Filter I use Tiffen 2 stop graduated ND filter on my Nikon D80. I still have a problem of capturing a sky without having it washed out. At least partially. Is there any way to solve this problem? Or do I need a darker filter?
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Pete H |
Hello Alex, A 2 stop ND filter may not be enough. It depends on the exposure difference of the sky Vs ground. 1)Meter the sky How many stops difference will dictate what ND value you need. Also; be aware that all ND filters do NOT graduate at the same rate. (i.e) Some ND's may be at -1 stop 50% down the filter..Others can be -1 starting at 20% etc... Next; ND filters are more effective above f/8..at 2.8, 4, 5.6 the effect is not as pronounced. Cokin Professional series tries to solve this problem with sliding plastic filters. Hope this helped a little, all the best, Pete
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
You could also underexpose your shot. And if you shoot raw, you could convert one picture where the foreground is good exposure, then go back to the raw editor, and redo the photo such that the sky has exposure. Then, copy one photo onto the other and adjust the opacity between the layers...that might help some.. That's a big advantage of raw, cause you can recapture areas that are blown out by the camera's conversion to JPG.
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Pete and Ken, I really appreciate your prompt feedback. Pete, you have reminded me of what I've been overlooking, that is to meter the sky and the ground separately. Also, setting fstop above 8 is a good tip. I'll look into Cokin filters also. Question to Ken: I understand your explanation but is it any different from shooting two photos in Jpeg, one for the right fstop for the sky and one for the foreground?
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Ken, I'd like to ask you also, what do you suggest I use for for Raw editing? I have Adobe Bridge and PSCS2. I also have Nikon's PictureProject. Does anyone of these work for Raw editing, including combining two different exposures?
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Pete H |
Alex, No amount of editing; RAW or otherwise will recapture blown hi-lights. You can indeed shoot two shots..One exposed for the sky and one for the ground..You will have to use a tripod for this. You simply layer the two photos and "erase" away the overexposed sky.
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Alex T. Mizuno |
Thank you Pete, for another great tip. As a matter of fact, I sometimes use that erase technique. It's kinda low-tech, but it works :)
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Alex, it's very similar to what you suggest..shooting two shots in JPG, with bracket exposure..on a tripod of course. But in my opinion, if you underexpose in RAW, you can still create two (or multiple) versions at different exposures and blend them with Photoshop...no need for the tripod. I've used the free plug-in, Adobe Camera RAW, plus I have the Bridge with CS-3. Hit my contact button if you have any other questions, and I'll just send you an e-mail. And I use this technique on alot of my landscape photos...plus I use a 3-stop GD filter.
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