Hi everyone - I will be heading out to Yellowstone, Teton and Glacier in August and am planning on adding a GND to my collection. I can add one ND filter(a month long trip has its costs) and am stuck between a Hitechsoft edge .6 or .9. If I go too dark on the .9, couldn't I just bump it up in Lightroom, whereas if I go too light with the .6, I lose detail? Thanks for any input.
-Mike
Posted by Paul DeCesare on July 11, 2009 at 12:46 AM
My guess is take the 3-stop (.9). If the .6 isn't enough at exposure time to tone down the sky, you'll have unrecoverable blown highlights. You can always darken the foreground a bit if necessary, or better yet, double-process the RAW. I used to own both when I had P-Size Singh-Ray filters. I sold them because I needed bigger 4x6 filters for a new wide angle lens, and could only afford one, so I got the 3-stop. I haven't missed the 2-stop at all.
Now, to add a twist, if you did take the .6, you could always shoot two exposures a stop apart and blend them, but you're guaranteeing longer time at the PC when you get back. Yuk.
I use the .9, then if it's too dark in the file I use the black sliders on the blue and cyan channels in the Selective Color adjustment in Photoshop to lighten them. Same as I do for polarizers. Easy, fast and eminently controllable. To a lesser degree you can use the same tool to fill in skies that are too light.
Mountains are pretty irregularly defined, and I haven't had nearly as much success using ND grads in the mountains as I have for seascapes, where the edge is perfectly flat. You might want to brush up on your technique for taking multiple exposures and combining them, rather than have to deal with the grad lines and exposure corrections... As someone else said, its more work in PS, but if the results are better, than its worth the work... Just a thought...
Like the others, I highly recommend a 3-stop soft GND. In the past I relied on a 2 stop and it was only enough to hold back the sky for a couple of minutes. The 3 stop lets me shoot a little longer. At the beginning of the morning light I keep it high in my holder so that I don't darken it too much and then pull it further down as the intensity of the light grows. As the others have said you can always lighten the sky a little afterward if necessary. Getting a "soft" edge grad it extremely important in the mountains. I regularly find people frustrated using their grads in the mountains because they have hard edge grads which leave a terrible line across the peaks. I also would suggest the Singh-Ray filters. In my opinion they seem to do the best job with the least color distortion.
I havent used my NDs in over a year. And I know my photography is better now than it was a year ago. There are only very rare circumstances when a GND is needed, any other time theyre a hindrance. Most of the people that still use them are just unwilling to give up old habits, or who would rather not spend the time in post-processing. that's just my opinion, but i havent been convinced otherwise by folks who still use them.
Discussion
8 replies-Mike
Now, to add a twist, if you did take the .6, you could always shoot two exposures a stop apart and blend them, but you're guaranteeing longer time at the PC when you get back. Yuk.
Enjoy the trip!