When to use a Reverse Grad Vs a Hard Grad for Horizon Shot on the Ocean?

My problem is I am not sure what filter to use if I am shooting a ocean/beach shot just as the sun is setting or rising. If I am always shooting foreground rocks or waves and trying to include the clouds patterns.My understanding is that I use a "reverse" when I want to shoot the sun on the horizon but want to keep my foreground lighter due to backlight and the top of the sky to be slightly lighter then the horizon; or do I just use the reverse when the foreground might be something like wildflowers in the foreground. Any suggestions would be helpful - Desperate for help !

Thanks in advance

Hi Kevin - it's really pretty simple. A Reverse Grad is basically just a soft gradient filter in reverse, where the darkest part of the filter starts at the gradient line and gets lighter as it moves toward the top of the filter whereas a hard gradient remains the same "strength" from the gradient line to the top. I hope that makes sense.

As an example of when to use each - If the horizon is bright but the sky darkens more and more as you look up then a Reverse Grad would work nicely. If the horizon and sky are approximately the same value then a regular hard grad would work.

To add to Bill's response, use your camera's spot meter to determine the exposure value differences between the horizon and the sky that's higher in your frame.
For example, if you use a 3 stop filter to place the horizon at +1 but by doing so the upper sky will come out at -1, then a reverse grad would make that upper sky come out as a medium (0) tone.

I shoot a lot of sunsets/sunrises and used to use my regular 3 stop hard Singh-Ray but I have found the reverse version of this more useful in this situation of late. The sky along the horizon is almost always brighter when shooting into the sun so the reverse grad is the way to go. Shooting away from the sun I usually use a normal grad.

You can use a soft grad oriented upside down to sub as a real reverse grad. Bob Singh himself told me that when I was interested in buying a reverse grad. The edge is so close to the lens that you don't see it....way OOF.

Thank you everyone for your advice - I am a lot clearer on the issue now. Kevin