Sunset pictures needing GND filter?

[arphaxad12]

Uploaded 3 shots of sunset taken at Raffles Marina. Minimal PP. Would a GND improve the color/tone/etc esp for Pic 3 (halo around sun)? If so which GND by brand/type would you recommend? Has a Cokin P197 filter which is quite useless. Tks for advice.

#1

#2

#3

 

[night86mare]

the gnd will brighten up the bottom of the picture, if you place the horizon line properly.

this may be beneficial for pic 1 especially, because the details there are a bit murky due to uneven exposure.

frankly speaking though, because of the cloud cover here, if you use layers in photoshop, you can easily recover the details (at the cost of some noise being revealed) in the shadows at the bottom. the dynamic range here is not that wide.

for pic 3, with a strong enough GND you could possibly make the sun less burnt out.. but at the same time, because of the direct angle to the sun, you face increased chance of getting flaring, especially if your GND is not 100% clean.

 

[Minerva]

yes. GND is useful... if u havent got one... can use 2 overexposed, stack and mask them to produce a good exposure.

 

[arphaxad12]

the gnd will brighten up the bottom of the picture, if you place the horizon line properly.

this may be beneficial for pic 1 especially, because the details there are a bit murky due to uneven exposure.

frankly speaking though, because of the cloud cover here, if you use layers in photoshop, you can easily recover the details (at the cost of some noise being revealed) in the shadows at the bottom. the dynamic range here is not that wide.

for pic 3, with a strong enough GND you could possibly make the sun less burnt out.. but at the same time, because of the direct angle to the sun, you face increased chance of getting flaring, especially if your GND is not 100% clean.

Thanks night86mare,

if spore sunsets (usu lost of clounds around) are my main interest, which GND wll work best for me?

any tips on how to render the layers PP on CS4?

#3 the halo around the sun is flaring? what grade GND filter will work best for this shot ?

yes. GND is useful... if u havent got one... can use 2 overexposed, stack and mask them to produce a good exposure.

thanks Minerva,

can you elaborate a bit on "use 2 overexposed, stack and mask them to produce a good exposure" i blur-king !

 

[matthewchj]

can use 2 overexposed, stack and mask them to produce a good exposure.

Basically you could do something similar to a HDR. Take a photo at normal exposure, then take another 1 or 2 stops overexposed, and another 1 or 2 stops underexposed, then combine the 3 images together. The overexposed image gives the detail in the shadows while the underexposed image brings back the detail in the highlights.

 

[giantcanopy]

which GND wll work best for me

There is no one filter fix all for GND, and to be anal u need to meter the foreground and background and determine the GND u need. You probably can start off with a +2 and a +3 soft step of which u can stack if necessary ( i cannot think of using anything more than a +5 to render a natural looking scene ) Just make sure not to turn the skies darker than the foreground

you can read up on hard step vs soft step GNDs, their pros and cons. personally i have a soft spot on the more forgiving soft step filters. but i do have hard step ones as well.

ryan