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Life On The Move
ND Filters
Shooting landscapes is tough to start with. Composition, the right time of the day, and of course the 2-4 stops different between the ground/water and sky. In comes an grad nd or graduated neutral density filter. There are so many different options and opinions when it comes to using and choosing an nd, and here is my take on it.
I use both a screw-on and Cokin mount with Singh-Ray acrylic slide style filters. When I am hanging from a rope shooting climbing and there might be a need for it, I bring my B+W Farbverlauf Grad 25% screw-on. As with any screw-on filter for my camera I always use high end glass filters. Why buy the best lens and use a plastic filter that will distort your image? Does not make any sense at all. For pretty much every other grad nd need, I use my Singh-Ray ND-3G-HS filter with Cokin’s 77mm mount.
Why do I prefer the non screw on? Easy, the inflexibility. With a slide filter you can not only rotate, but you can adjust the filter up and down without manipulating your preferred composition. I will set up my camera with the ideal composition that I hope to capture then adjust my filter either vertically, horizontally or anything in between. Then I move my nd filter to the optimal gradient position for the most accurate light collection. With a screw-on filter all you are able to do while maintaining a preferred composition is to swivel your filter 360 degrees, lame.
While using an nd filter is great and my preferred way to shoot landscapes with a large dynamic range to cover, I have several other tools in my tool bag just in case. Using a non graduated nd to maintain a low aperture is great for capturing waterfalls and moving clouds. Also, if you are shooting video I can not say enough about Genus ND fader filters. The fader filters are great for shooting a shallow depth-of-field in bright conditions. The Genus filter allows for about 2-8 stops of adjustment with out changing the setting on your camera. Pretty rad.
A side note please do not make the mistake of keeping a standard UV filter on your glass at all times. UV filters are cheap, compared to the cost of a lens, and much easier to replace in the field on a remote shoot.
Here is a quick list of the filters that I keep with me when I am out:
B+W 77mm UV Haze Filter on all my Lenses plus two backups
B+W Farbverlauf Grau 25%
B+W 72mm to 77mm adaptor
Corkin 77mm X Pro Mount
Galen Rowell Filter ND-3G-HS
I am always looking for new ways to improve my workflow and setup so if you have any comments or recommendations I am very interested to hear your thought and stories.
No filter is applied
Huge difference once a graduated filter is in place.