Gradient toward 1/2 stop

[Jmarmck]

Maybe I am a bit off here. I was tinkering with my shots in flickr photostream. One of the features of flickr is that the bottom 1/4 (or there abouts) will go darker when the mouse passes over the image. I find that this is actually improves upon some of the images I have posted. The darker foreground seems to mute the visual impact of the foreground. Now this is not good on all images but some of the landscapes are improved. JMaHO.

I was considering using a ND gradient filter to achieve this effect. Certainly this could be added digitally too. Maybe a 1/2 stop or perhaps a 1 stop? A 1/4 frame gradient filter may be hard to find.
What do you think?

[Ari]

Try applying it in Lightroom's gradient filter module first, and see what kind of results you get.
If you like it, and want to use it as you're shooting, you can get, say, a 150mm ND0.3 or ND0.6 filter in a rotating holder that will apply the effect to only one corner.

[Jmarmck]

I was thinking of a Cokin system with a 0.3 or 0.6. I could slide the filter down in the holder. I think the 1 might be too much. I have all that for most of my lens threads across most formats. The question is whether the filter is large enough. The 150 would work for the couple larger threaded lenses.

I was wondering how often this technic was used.

[Jmarmck]

Perhaps I need a primer on how to treat the foreground.