Reverse Grad ND

[GIBS]

Hi,

Looking to trying out filters for landscapes.

What stop would be most useful to start out with ? Was thinking about a 2 stop.

Thanks

[Paul Sumi]

Looking to trying out filters for landscapes.

What filters do you already have?  Most people start with the regular GNDs (in my case a 2 stop soft and 3 stop hard).

More specific to your question, I also have a 2 stop reverse GND, but it doesn't get as much use as the other 2.

Paul

[GIBS]

Thanks,

I don't have any yet, but was planning on the 2 you also mentioned.

Just wondering about getting the reverse ND at the same time. Though by the sounds of it i could just get it later ?

Thanks

[Paul Sumi]

I have used my reverse GND only a handful of times; my regular GNDs get a lot of use for landscape.

Honestly, though, software tools such as blending, HDR and LR's/ ACR's graduated filter tool will also do a similar job as physical GND filters.  So if you already have Photoshop or Lightroom you might try these to see if you like the results before spending the money.

The only filter I consider not-replaceable by software is a polarizing filter.

Paul

[JohnTodd]

Noob question - what's a *reverse* GND filter? I just turn my GND through 180 degrees if I want to darken the lower half of the image.

[jeremypayne]

Noob question - what's a *reverse* GND filter? I just turn my GND through 180 degrees if I want to darken the lower half of the image.

http://www.earthboundlight.com/images/phototips/nine_grads.jpg

[JohnTodd]

Ah - okay, I see. Thanks.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Noob question - what's a *reverse* GND filter? I just turn my GND through 180 degrees if I want to darken the lower half of the image.

The "reverse" means something else than reversing the whole filter. Prior to the invention of the "reverse" kind, graduated neutral density filters would gradually (duh!) become darker, moving from the center to the edge of the filter, regardless if hard edge or soft edge. Soon people realized that under certain circumstances, though quite frequent in landscape photography, the direction of darkening is wrong, i.e., the opposite of what it should be. The situation is quite familiar: relatively sharp and linear transition between dark and light, e.g. sea horizon at sunset, where the lightest part is closer to the center of the image (and filter) than the edge. Enter the reverse GND: its darkest part is in the center of the filter.

[langier]

If you are shooting digital, don't forget HDR (not tone mapping!) so that your transformations will look more natural when you've got to tame the dynamic range of more than a straight line! Grad filter shot in a valley just don't seem to look too natural!

With good image crafting, one would never know that contrast was out of range using a multiple exposures or twice-processed files. With the Grad ND filters, they almost always scream they were filtered!

If you do use them, don't forget that the best ones come in both hard-edge and gradual and from 1-4 stops. The ND .9 hard and soft (3 stops) seemed to be my most useful, especially for film, followed by an ND .6 hard (2 stops). Neutral is key and the best I've used are the Singray. All the rest I've tried through the years have all had shown casts on the final images.

I still pack both my hard and soft edge grad ND filters, but seldom use them since I seldom have an even horizon.

Usually today, I simply use a high-quality .9 and 1.2 (3 and 4 stop) ND simply to slow down water in addition to my polarizer.

[jools230575]

You know what, I wouldn't both with the reverse grad. Why? Because all you need to do is put one grad in the usual way with the dark bit on the top and then put another in upside down. If you slide the second one down or up you can vary your area of degradation.

Personally, this method will work much better when faced with a stormy sunrise/ sunset. You can have a little stripe of 3 stops for between the horizon and where the cloud is and then a more subtle grad above the stripe.

Just hold your grads up to the light with one upside down and you'll see a new trick for your arsenal

[Brian Carey]

The reverse nd grad is something I got to get. I have been using nd grads and I would suggest if you can get at least 2, a .3 (1 stop) and a .6 (2 stop) soft split nd grad. You can stack them to make a .9 (3 stop)