Neutral Density Grad Filters

After years of shooting outdoors, you'd think being able to accurately judge contrast and varying brightness levels would be a snap. Not always the case....especially in this situation.

Last summer I was conducting a workshop on Rabbit Island in British Columbia. It's a very small island, just a few miles east of the harbor town of Nanaimo. And on this particular morning, our group had taken a short boat ride to a neighboring location to shoot the sunrise. Just as we were about to jump onboard for the return trip, I spotted this awesome starfish, and the multi colored kelp and seaweed covered rocks. I was so intrigued with these few elements, that the background with the dramatic sky and small lighthouse went un-noticed until I was positioning the tripod for a low angle shot. Quickly switching lenses to a wider zoom and repositioning the camera even lower to emphasise the foreground....the shot was really starting to come together. And the image thru the viewfinder was incredible. The sky was extremely dark and cloud filled. And my best guess was that the lighting balance between the foreground and background was about even. Boy, was I wrong. Notice how blown-out the sky is in the second image.

This problem was fixed using a 2 stop ND grad filter with a hard transition. And, if you've never used one of these filters, they work a little differently than the normal screw-in type. They're actually a rectangular piece of optical resin with a darkened grey area covering about half the filter. They come in different strengths, depending on how much correction is needed. You simply slide it in the track of the Lee filter holder, and move it down until the brighter area of the sky is properly darkened.

Thanx to Mike Laffin and "Limo" John Janson for taking the "behind the scenes" photos.