In the days of powerful image editing software such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, and others, some people may argue that things like filters are obsolete.  Certainly, in some cases, with digital photography’s auto-white-balance, and shooting in RAW makes things like color correction filters not as useful as they once were, there are still some things that can’t be replicated as easily in an image editor.  One of these effects is from the Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filter.

What is that, exactly?  To answer that question, let’s look at the component parts of the name.  A Neutral Density (ND) filter is an accessory that mounts onto the filter mount screw at the front of your lens.  It cuts down the amount of light that will hit the sensor without distorting or discoloring the image (that’s where the ‘Neutral’ part comes in).  Think of it as looking through tinted windows in your car.  How much light it cuts down is dependent upon what type of ND filter you use.  This can typically be determined by looking at the number beside the ‘ND’ in the filter.  Below is a simple table that describes how many stops of light a particular ND filter will reduce:

The ‘Graduated’ part of the name simply means that the filter (usually rectangular in shape) is coated with the specified ND strength in a graduated pattern (darker to lighter).  As you can see from the photo below, the top part of the filter is quite dark, and gradually gets lighter in the bottom.  The filter system by Cokin that I have comes in three parts: a ring that mounts onto the filter screws on the lens, the filter holder that slides onto the ring, then the filter itself, which slides into one of three tracks of the filter holder.  Personally, I like this system a lot for a couple reasons:  because it can be transferred between lenses of different sizes simply by purchasing the appropriate ring size, and also because it allows me to stack filters if I decide to (admittedly, I haven’t done that yet, but I like that I have the choice to when I do!)

So what can we do with this little contraption that we can’t do in our fancy schmancy image editor?   Well, one of the most common things the GND is used for is to control exposure between the sky and the ground.  Without the GND filter, we have to make a choice between having a well-exposed ground, but a blown-out white sky, or a nicely exposed sky, but a dark ground.  For me, at least, I want it all!   Have you ever looked at that sky and thought, if that sky was about 3 stops darker,  the sky and the ground would look great together!  Okay…  If you’ve ever thought that, consider yourself addicted to photography!  To solve our problem, all we have to do is slap on an GND8 and, based on our table above, we’ve dropped the sky down 3 stops, and now the sky and the ground can live together in perfect harmony in your frame.  If I lost you in the geekiness of it all, the bottom line is that the GND8 will allow you to capture things like the the deep blue hues of the sky and the texture of the clouds.  Without the GND filter, the detail in the clouds will be blown out beyond all recovery.  Short of pasting in, or brushing in, a new set of clouds, the blown out patch of white will remain white.  With the GND, you no longer have to compromise — you get beautiful tone throughout the image.  Below is a comparison picture of the final result (GND on the left, no GND on the right).  No Photoshop here, except for a mild saturation bump.

Well, that’s it for now.  Hopefully, with the GND, you can graduate the level of of your landscape photos!

Many people who begin their journey down the path of learning more about photography often start looking at photos taken by others and, more often than not, someone will ask, “what settings did you use?”  It’s a fair question, but it’s a fairly limiting one because, you see, there are many “right settings” that the photographer could have used, but for any given photo, only one was selected, and in some cases, the “right setting” wasn’t used for a particular reason!  Have I confused you yet?  Good, because the answer to that question is, “it doesn’t matter!”  Really.

Unless it was a controlled, consistent environment, shot at approximately the same time of day, in the same time of year, in the same type of weather, and for the same composition, those settings may no longer be valid.  To put it simply, all those settings do is tell your camera how to record the light that is available in the place that you’re aiming at.  Depending on the selected settings, you, the photographer, can influence how that light is recorded, and use it to communicate your message.

As you can probably already figure out, even if you went out to the very spot where a great photo was taken, the lighting conditions could be wildly different.  And when you get there, you may decide to tell a different story.

The bottom line is: don’t rely on other photos, or other photographers’ “right settings” to get you great images.  Know your camera and know what you want your photo to say.  These two things will tell you what the “right setting” is to use.

Teaching you how to figuring out the “right setting for what you want your photo to say” is what this site is about, so if you need help with that, stick around, and I’ll try to cover those topics.  Until then, I suggest you read Bryan Peterson’s book, Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film Or Digital Camera.  For under 20 bucks, it’s an easy read that will help you get beyond, “what settings did you use?”