With digital cameras and photoshop comes a very powerful technique of blending, called HDR. Does it mean ND grads will be phased out? I love shooting landscapes and thought of getting an ND grad, but have read comments that doing HDR, whether via a single RAW or multiple exposures, are better than using ND grads. Please advice.
Do you still use ND grad?
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Hmm. I think its still essential. I just used one today while i was at Seletar Reservoir.. and i used it awhile back shooting Sunset at Changi..pretty indispensable...
2nd that, anyway its so cheap no harm carrying spares around.
There are professional photogs who carry around, then throw once scratched.
Tink so too. Well, may b i'm the sort who tries to use minimum S/W on photos, so I still use a fair amt of the ND grad.
its way more $ efficient to use tianya/cokin system especially if you going to use it on 2 or more lenses... and also it make stacking of a few different filter easier with less vignette as compare to screw based filters. :thumbsup:
HDR pictures don't look the same as those done with ND grads... they often have a slightly unreal, painting-like feeling to them. a well-used ND grad looks more like a normal photo. in the end it depends on what you want your pictures to look like.
I think more importantly, it allows you to position where the grad is. Something you can't really do with screw-on filters apart from just rotating it around.
i just started buying them 2 weeks back, have not tried it on sunny day yet... tomorrow hope to find a chance.
WHAT BRAND DID YOU GET?
KNOW IF COKIN AND TIAN YI GOT PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE NOT? I KNOW BOTH ARE COMPLIMENTARY BUT PERFORMANCE WISE... ANY COMMENTS?
I think one of the kind CSer have done a review... the quality of cokin and tianya is almost similar, but of cos tianya is fraction of the cost of cokin. :bsmilie:
Cokins have a slight magenta cast tho. Quite irritating. I've heard Singh-rays are truely neutral but they are also many many times more ex.
Hi,
I'm definitely no expert, as I (a) don't even have an ND grad filter, and (b) have not even done a HDR
But from my armchair cameraman's viewpoint, I'd think that the HDR and ND Grad approaches are different ways for the photographer to express what he sees:- HDR as it name implies, tries to achieve a the high dynamic range in the final image, to try to approximate what the human eye actually saw. As such, the full contrast range of the scene is preserved in each image so that the HDR software can extend it even further to create such pictures we have come to know as "HDR".
- ND grad filters, though, attempt to reduce the contrast in a particular scene to make it easier for the image sensor to capture without blowing out all sorts of highlights.
Different tools in the photographers' arsenal, I guess.
if u use such filter systems how do u use the CPL and lens hoods? esp for wide angle lenses u got to have the hoods.. i've been looking at such systems coz it's much cheaper but i don't want to have to get the huge ugly hoods that are available...
and what sizes do u guys use? i planning to get a canon 10-22mm.. and according to cokin website it's recommended to get the X-Pro series (for 15mm equivalent) and it's HUGE!
and what sizes do u guys use? i planning to get a canon 10-22mm.. and according to cokin website it's recommended to get the X-Pro series (for 15mm equivalent) and it's HUGE!
CPL ain't much of a problem unless you keep going from portrait to landscape and vice versa, once the CPL is set, just mount all the filter... etc on and use.
I have been using them without lens hood with my 12-24... not much problem. tho I get some flare if the sun is directly, partly due to that tokina 12-24 ain't a very flare resisting lens and also I stack up to 4filters sometimes... CPL + 3 other ND/GND... etc :bsmilie:
the normal filter holder will cause vignette on all ultra wide so normally I just hold them with hand...
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