Show us your amateur photos - not dial up friendly

**Lance B** · 27-02-2008, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by velly_16v_cab

but wouldnt you get more movement because you have used a slower shutter???

Yes you would get more movement due to the slower shutter speed but you can alter this by changing the aperture to a 'faster' aperture like f5.6 rather than f8 for instance. You can also use a tripod for static subject matter and in the photo of the water in the creek it may even be an advantage to use a slower shutter speed to have the water movement. The aperture is the iris of the lens and can be altered by controls on the camera if it has manual settings.

ND graduated filters are toning down one section of the scene, so the exposure of the dark areas does not alter, just the toning down of the bright areas and you may find that the shutter speed may ot actually alter very much even thought the ND grad filter may have a 2 stop(shutter speed) difference between the light and dark areas of the filter.

For my landscape photos, I use the ND grad filters quite extensively and they can really add impact to a photo. In the sample photos I posted a day or so ago, the Harbour Bridge photo and the photo of the sea with the rocks in the foreground and the looming clouds were taken with ND grads and would have much less impact without it.

The important thing to remember is that once a sensor becomes over saturated, ie the shutter speed is too long for a given light level, then the information is lost. The photo has blown the highlights and that bright area cannot be recovered, so even of you try to correct it in post process, you will not get any information from the blown out areas and they will appear white or lose colour density and will look awful. The idea is to keep the exposure under control by exposing the bright areas near to the limit but not overstepping that limit.

This is where a ND grad filter can be invaluable if you want to record the bright *and* dark areas of a scene. Of course, it is not always necessary to be able to record the complete range of brightness of an image for that image to be acceptable.

I hope my explanation makes it clear. If there is anything you do not understand or disagree with, please let me know.