Photographer Nicco Valenzuela recently published a helpful "crash course" that covers everything you need to know to get started using lens filters for landscape photography. The video covers everything from the two main filter 'formats,' to the three main filter 'types,' to the various situations where you might want to use each filter for the best possible results.
HOYA has announced a new pair of filters called PROND GRAD. The PROND16 GRAD and PROND32 GRAD are circular graduated ND filters designed to help landscape photographers balance the luminosity of bright and dark areas.
Using a graduated neutral density (GND) filter is fairly easy and doesn’t require any advanced techniques in post-production, but the easiest option isn’t always the best choice; due to the filter’s transition being horizontal, anything above the distinction will be darkened and anything below will be left alone.
With the advent of better camera technology and clever processing software, do we really need neutral density filters any more? Can’t we just replicate the effect of filters in Photoshop or even in camera? Isn’t the dynamic range sufficient in my shiny new Sony camera? Well, yes and no…
A few months ago, photographer Karl Taylor got a tour of the LEE filters factory where he got to see how these high quality filters are cast, tested, and dyed (by hand!)—he even got to dye one for himself. Fortunately, he took a camera man (and now us) along for the ride.
Here's a simple trick for landscape photos: when shooting a landscape photo that needs a hard edge graduated ND filter, you can use your hand. Yes your hand! It's a technique I've been using in my own work recently.
Sony just launched a new PlayMemories app called Sky HDR. It's designed to replace the graduated neutral density filters in Sony photographers' camera bags by making it easy to capture correct exposures for a bright sky in the background and a darker landscape in the foreground, all in one shot.