Slide film with grad filters (metering)

[Drew Wiley]

So the black plague is apparently still landing on your shores.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Thrte is no trick, just practice and knowing how to use them.

[Alan Klein]

Steve, Not to be picky or unkind. But the Grand Canyon shot is overdone with grads. There's no way the ground can have that much light and look like noon time when the sky is so into sunset or rise that the clouds are so pink. Like you said, when filtering, less is more. You can;t go past the point where people will notice that something isn't right.

The picture could work though if converted to BW.

The other shots look more realistic as far as exposure.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Steve, Not to be picky or unkind. But the Grand Canyon shot is overdone with grads. There's no way the ground can have that much light and look like noon time when the sky is so into sunset or rise that the clouds are so pink. Like you said, when filtering, less is more. You can;t go past the point where people will notice that something isn't right.

The picture could work though if converted to BW.

The other shots look more realistic as far as exposure.

That is not true. I was there and that is exactly what the scene looked like. In fact, had I not said anything, no one would know I used a grad nd.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

And the sun was behind me. Had I not used it, the sky would have blown out or the foreground would have been severely underexposed.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Here is a bad use of a grad nd. Link is to larger image.

http://www.steveruttenbergphotograph...35556889-5.jpg

[Alan Klein]

And the sun was behind me. Had I not used it, the sky would have blown out or the foreground would have been severely underexposed.

Of course, that's the purpose of why you use a grad. The problem is, if it's overdone, it becomes obvious because the light balance between the lighter portions and shadow areas can extend way beyond what one sees naturally. The same can happen with a digital shadow slider if used to lighten the shadows too much. The trick is not to overdo it. A more gentle touch is better. Too many grad stops is not good.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Yes, two many can be as bad as not using one.

If you want light balance to be perfect the Canyon is not the place to shoot. You will have a choice of good skyexposure or good canyon exposure, but not both unless you use a g re ad filter or some other advanced technique. In my Canyon shot the canyon happened to be lit with the far end somewhat less bright. I used a reverse grad ND because the portion just below the clouds was very bright and would have ruined the image. In this case this what I saw.