ND Grad Shots C&C

[Draken]

Hey,

Brought a Cokin G2 ND Grad today heres the best pic i got out of the 15 minutes i used it lol was FREEZING!

hope you like

 

[tom.ganc]

Hi
WOW! That picture looks great to me. You can see the difference while using ND Grad for landscapes. Sky looks just right.
What was your camera settings? I'm asking because I like this blurry water.
Great job.

 

[AussieDee]

Beautiful shot.. yes, I'm curious how that affect is done with the water looking so smooth

 

[tirediron]

Very nice - you now own one of the two most essential tools for landscape photography; don't forget to level your horizons!

 

[Draken]

cheers guys ! i also used an ND8 filter screwed in first and then my Cokin G2 was around 0.6" so caught some motion in the waves which is what i wanted

thanks for your thoughts

 

[Draken]

also if anyone can offer me any tips on how to properly use my new ND Grad and how to reduce noticeably of the line that would be awesome !

 

[tirediron]

The water effect is achieve through the use of longer than normal shutter speeds. In Draken's case he used a 1/2 second shutter speed. This is an image of a tidal area I shot in Greece, using a 3 second exposure (and a total of eight or ten stops of ND): http://www.rthtg.net/john/crete/Tidal_pool_8x10 (Large).jpg

 

[tirediron]

also if anyone can offer me any tips on how to properly use my new ND Grad and how to reduce noticeably of the line that would be awesome !

The best way to do this is set it so that the transition in the filter is just masked by a line in the picture. In this case, bring the filter down so that the transition was masked by the mountains in the background.

 

[Draken]

hmmm yeah i guess it just takes practise huh

 

[tirediron]

hmmm yeah i guess it just takes practise huh

That's it exactly it - and the beauty of digital; the film's cheap!

 

[cosmonaut]

Great work with the ND now I think you should crop some off of the top and left and your horizon is leaning and to close to the center. It is almost never good to have a tilted shot.

 

[settons]

what is ND?

 

[tirediron]

what is ND?

Neutral Density; a filter which has a coating that will block light, but is optically transparent and has no affect on the colours of the image. Used to achieve a more even exposure in a secene where you have a bright area and a dark area (eg bright sun, dark mountains).

 

[Steph]

also if anyone can offer me any tips on how to properly use my new ND Grad and how to reduce noticeably of the line that would be awesome !

To align the transition line with another line in the frame (such as the horizon) it might be useful to set a small aperture on your lens and use the depth of field preview. I find that you see the transition between the clear and ND parts of the filter that bit better using this method.

 

[Draken]

ahh! thats a good idea Steph - cheers :-D
and yeah i know cosmonaut my horizon sucks :-( lol oh well but as tirediron says the films cheap