77 — Neutral density filters — Graduated neutral density filters — Interview with D. Wiggett

January 29, 2010 By 18 Comments

Pho­tog­ra­phy pod­cast #77 fea­tures an inter­view with Dar­win Wiggett where we talk about neu­tral den­sity fil­ters and grad­u­ated neu­tral den­sity fil­ters. Dar­win explains why we use these fil­ters and how to use these fil­ters effec­tively. We dis­cuss hard edge ver­sus soft edge, phys­i­cal ver­sus soft­ware fil­ters, we even talk about reverse grad­u­ated neu­tral den­sity fil­ters. For new­bie pho­tog­ra­phers that have just hatched, Dar­win goes over polar­iz­ing fil­ters as well.

Left - Screw on neutral density filter. Right - The Cokin system

Left — Screw on neu­tral den­sity fil­ter. Right — The Cokin system

Left - Lake with no filter. Right - Lake with polarizer and-2-stop hard edge grad. Notice how much poppier this shot is. The grad reduces the shyd intensity. The polarizer removes the waters reflections thus saturating its colours.

Left — Lake with no fil­ter. Right — Lake with polar­izer and-2-stop hard edge grad. Notice how much ‘pop­pier’ this shot is. The grad reduces the sky’s inten­sity. The polar­izer adds con­trast to the clouds in the sky and inten­si­fies its colour. It also removes the water’s reflec­tions thus sat­u­rat­ing its colours. ‚© Dar­win Wiggett

Left - Tire with Polarizer and-2-stop-hard-grad. Right - Tire with Polarizer plus a 2-stop-hard-edge grad and-a 5-stop solid-ND filter. Note the movement of the foreground brush. This was achieved by using the solid ND filter to get a slow shutter speed

Left — Tire with Polar­izer and-2-stop-hard-grad. Right — Tire with a Polar­iz­ing fil­ter plus a 2-stop-hard-edge grad and-a 5-stop solid-ND fil­ter. Note the move­ment of the fore­ground brush and the soft­ness in the clouds. This was achieved by using the solid ND fil­ter to get a slow shut­ter speed. ‚© Dar­win Wiggett.

The effect of a polarizer on its own. Left - No polarizing filter. Right - The circular polarizing filter lets you see through the water by eliminating the waters reflectivity.

The effect of a polar­izer on its own. Left — No polar­iz­ing fil­ter. Right — The polar­iz­ing fil­ter lets you see through the water by elim­i­nat­ing the water’s reflec­tiv­ity. With the reflec­tions removed, the colour is much more sat­u­rated. ‚© Dar­win Wiggett

Links /resources men­tioned in this podcast:

Seven Rules for Effec­tively Using a Polar­izer
Fil­ters, hold­ers and vignetting: build­ing a fil­ter sys­tem that works with your lenses
The Ter­rific Triple Threat
Fields of Gold (or was that blue?) Three Cam­era Fil­ters all Dig­i­tal Pho­tog­ra­phers Should be Using
Fil­ters for Out­door Pho­tog­ra­phy
January’s macro or close-up assign­ment on the Photography.ca forum
Cokin fil­ters at B&H (Dis­clo­sure — Aff links — help sup­port our site)
Singh-Ray fil­ters at B&H
Lee fil­ters at B&H

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