Dark Raven
New member
Hi all me and my mate are interested in taking some sunset shots and are going to get some practice in locally before going to Edinburgh this summer. I was wondering what the best filters where for this. We both have a CPL and I have a Hoya NDx16 for my forcoming 18-200 lens. I told him that I'd read a neutral density graduated filter was good for this. And he says he wants a light red cokin one for this. I read an ND Grad filter is best because can expose the foreground properley to show the detail in it. Sometimes getting a silhouette is nice but at times I would like to have the choice to see the details in rocks and sand and other objects in the foreground. I wouldnt want my sunset to look to artificial and dramatically change in colour. I just want to enhance the colour I see but still natural. We got some nice blue effect on a beach sunset just by changing the white balance to what is Tungsten on his Canon camera. After finding the site I'd read before Im leaning towards a half grey ND Grad filter as it seems this wouldnt paint the scene just let light pass. But a second opinion would be great thanks"
Peter.
"Filters
After getting my filters, I haven't photographed sunsets without them. There is one filter type you really need: neutral density graduated filter. I would go so far and say that without ND grads you'll only get silhouettes. Then there also are some other filters that might bring nice results, like colored grads or normal colored filters.
The ND grad is used to even the exposure differences between the ground and sky. Normally if you photograph towards the sun (even though it might be low), you'll get completely blown out sky (white) if you want to have some details in foreground. Or you'll have nicely exposed sky and black ground (that is nice if you want silhouettes, but remember, you want more than just silhouettes for every shot).
ND grad is half grey (neutral, so it shouldn't paint the scene in any way, just let less light to pass) and half clear and between them, it has gradual transition. This way you can either hold the filter in your hand in front of the lens or then have a filter holder attached to the lens. You can rotate the filter and move it up and down to get the transition to be in right place.
Another interesting filter is neutral density filter. This makes less light to get into sensor and forces you to use longer shutter speeds. The effect might be really interesting especially with water.
With filter system you'll attach the filter holder into lens (usually with adapter, so you need only one holder for different size lenses) and put the square filter into the holder. You can move the filter up and down to get the grad transition to right place and rotate the holder.
One system that has also ND grads is Cokin system. Personally I've used the P-system, but it has one drawback: the neutral density filters aren't exactly neutral. They tend to bring in a slight red hue that might be a problem when you'll stack them. But you can read more about the system from their website and also see some examples: [link] Other brands that I know are Lee filters (should be excellent and quite expensive) and Hitech (between Cokin and Lee in quality). Currently I have Cokin P-system with few filters and for my Nikkor 14mm f2.8 I had to get Cokin X-system since it was only system where I found an adapter that could fit the lens."
Peter.
"Filters
After getting my filters, I haven't photographed sunsets without them. There is one filter type you really need: neutral density graduated filter. I would go so far and say that without ND grads you'll only get silhouettes. Then there also are some other filters that might bring nice results, like colored grads or normal colored filters.
The ND grad is used to even the exposure differences between the ground and sky. Normally if you photograph towards the sun (even though it might be low), you'll get completely blown out sky (white) if you want to have some details in foreground. Or you'll have nicely exposed sky and black ground (that is nice if you want silhouettes, but remember, you want more than just silhouettes for every shot).
ND grad is half grey (neutral, so it shouldn't paint the scene in any way, just let less light to pass) and half clear and between them, it has gradual transition. This way you can either hold the filter in your hand in front of the lens or then have a filter holder attached to the lens. You can rotate the filter and move it up and down to get the transition to be in right place.
Another interesting filter is neutral density filter. This makes less light to get into sensor and forces you to use longer shutter speeds. The effect might be really interesting especially with water.
With filter system you'll attach the filter holder into lens (usually with adapter, so you need only one holder for different size lenses) and put the square filter into the holder. You can move the filter up and down to get the grad transition to right place and rotate the holder.
One system that has also ND grads is Cokin system. Personally I've used the P-system, but it has one drawback: the neutral density filters aren't exactly neutral. They tend to bring in a slight red hue that might be a problem when you'll stack them. But you can read more about the system from their website and also see some examples: [link] Other brands that I know are Lee filters (should be excellent and quite expensive) and Hitech (between Cokin and Lee in quality). Currently I have Cokin P-system with few filters and for my Nikkor 14mm f2.8 I had to get Cokin X-system since it was only system where I found an adapter that could fit the lens."