Balancing sky and foreground is easy with a few Graduated ND filters and Live View

For Floris van Breugel, nature and wildlife photography provides the perfect balance to his "day job" as a graduate student at Caltech in Pasadena, California. "My research interests involve insect-inspired flight control, so -- as you might guess -- my photography always strives to bring out nature's true character. Each image represents what I saw in the original scene. Post production is limited to adjusting the relative brightness, contrast, and color balance in the image.

"Unlike many veteran nature photographers, I began my career just a few years ago using digital cameras from the start. With film, the need for Graduated Neutral Density filters has long been recognized -– without the use of such filters, film is simply not able to capture the full tonal range of a gorgeous sunset over a dark foreground. Now, with digital photography, it's possible to take multiple exposures of the sunset and then blend them together in the computer to achieve a similarly extended tonal range. This prompts many digital photographers to ask, 'Why invest in Graduated ND filters when I can just do it in post processing?' One answer is that in many cases I can’t use multiple exposures when there's any movement in the scene. For me, the strongest reason I don't bracket multiple exposures in the field, is that it will require so much more time and head scratching later when I'm trying to get the exposure balance to look right on my computer monitor. That’s valuable time I can better spend out shooting more images! As a busy graduate student, I really appreciate the time I save by using Graduated ND filters to get my landscape exposures balanced as closely as possible in the field.

"On a recent trip to Anza-Borrego State Park in Southern California, I had the opportunity to photograph several scenes that simply would not have been possible without my Singh-Ray ND grads. Due to the LA traffic, I was a little late getting to the scene and didn’t have much time to scout. I knew of one area, however, with easy access that would give me plenty of opportunities. As soon as I pulled the car over and ran out into the cactus-covered hills, I spotted a group of cholla cacti, positioned perfectly to take advantage of the colorful clouds. I promptly started photographing them. I didn’t think twice, I just set up my tripod and camera, turned the camera to 'live view' mode, and grabbed my Singh-Ray 2-stop hard-step Graduated ND filter.

"Speaking of live view, Ron Niebrugge recently posted an excellent story on this blog explaining the great value of this new feature when working with Graduated ND filters. I agree with Ron and thought I would share a few thoughts on the matter as well. Not only does live view help me get the position of the filter right, but because I hand-hold my filters there’s even more benefit to using live view. By standing back from the camera, I see the image displayed on the camera's monitor. Then when I hand-hold my ND grad in front of the lens, I see where my hand and the filter are, as well as the angle of the filter so that I can easily fine tune its placement. Before live view I often resorted to using a filter holder because I had lost too many images due to glare or intruding fingers from improperly held filters. Now live view lets me see where I’m holding the filter and makes it much easier to keep it in the right place while shooting. Since getting my camera with live view, I haven’t used my filter holder at all. Another valuable result of using live view and the graduated filters together is being able to see how my composition is going to look. With multi-exposure blending it’s much more difficult to predict the overall look of the final image.

"After the clouds dissipated over my Teddy Bear Chollas, I moved further west and stumbled upon this blooming Hedgehog Cactus posed before a rarely seen clear view of the desert and a perfectly positioned dancing Ocotillo (usually these cacti are hidden behind bushes or rocks). I set up my tripod low to the ground, about 12 inches away from the cactus, and waited for the clouds to cooperate. Right when they drifted into the frame, I again used my 2-stop hard-step Graduated ND filter and took this shot. Again, live view made positioning my filter a lot easier than trying to lie down on the ground to see through the viewfinder.

"The following day the clouds had dissipated, so this time I turned my attention to this backlit chollas at sunset -– that’s when they really come alive. When shooting straight into the sun, there’s of course a lot of dynamic range to deal with. Here, a 2-stop Graduated ND filter wasn’t going to cut it, so I took out my 3-stop Reverse Graduated ND filter. I generally find any more than 3-stops of Graduated ND is simply too much -– the foreground will end up looking too bright for the rest of the scene to get a natural looking effect. In fact, even with 3-stops it’s difficult to get it looking right. In this case, however, it worked from an artistic standpoint. I wanted the two primary focal points to be the sun and the cholla, and I wanted the dark sky to help bring attention to these elements. By using this filter, stopping my 16-35mm Mark II down to f/22, and carefully choosing my exposure, I was able to balance everything in a single exposure. The reason I mention the lens is because the beautiful sunstar flare is a direct consequence of using this lens, I never got anything that pretty out of my 17-40mm. Had I decided to bracket multiple exposures, I would have faced a nightmare of washed out hills and overwhelming flare. With such a wide dynamic range, the bright portions of the image tend to bleed out into the darker areas, making blending a real nightmare. Also, at this time of day, the sun moves surprisingly fast, so motion is again an important factor. By completing the work in the field, I knew I had successfully captured the image I wanted, rather than hoping it would work out later."

You'll want to see more of Floris' fine art images, visit his website his blog, and check out his Flickr galleries, too. "Be sure to check back often," says Floris, "I go on frequent trips to various California destinations, preferring those areas less often photographed."

Digital photographers who know their business also know their filters

Each time we hear from the ever-successful photo team of Joe DiMaggio and JoAnne Kalish, we're reminded that many full-time photographers have come to rely on Singh-Ray filters for their sales success.

As Joe says, "I'm slow to change. Even after most of my peers switched from analog to digital, I lagged a solid five years behind -- maybe more. Sally Lloyd, a good friend and former photo editor at both Image Bank and at the Stock Market, once told me I was 'twenty years ahead of the curve.' I knew she was overly gracious. When I finally decided to give up film, I told myself, 'Well at least now I won't need all these filters anymore. In the world of digital photography who needs filters?'

"Over the years I had gone through probably hundreds of filters -- black & white, color conversion, ND grads, polarizers -- of every different size. However, I quickly realized I was mistaken -- filters were going to be essential for my digital shooting, too. From my very first experience with the instant gratification of digital photography, I felt compelled to shoot all my personal work the same excited way I had at age 16. I started reshooting everything I had done when I was younger, but now with the ability to instantly see the resulting images, I was able to use my filters in totally different and more creative ways. I was able to modify my exposure by 1/3 of a stop and become more precise in the art I was generating. The Singh-Ray Color Intensifier permanently replaced my UV filter on my lens. The majority of my work today is filmmaking. I'm in the process of directing a feature documentary about boxing called Gleason's: the Last American Melting Pot. I have a few surprises in that film where I utilize Singh-Ray filters.

"During an extremely successful corporate shoot last year, I used a Gold-N-Blue Polarizer to make this flat-panel television image come alive, making the boutique hotel room more interesting. Afterwards, I also gave this photo to my agent, and I'm pleased to say the international sales for this deceptively simple photograph recently gleaned us another one-time sale of $4,800 -- which pleases the hard core businessman in me as well as the artist. The more I use Singh-Ray filters the more I find fresh, creative and profitable applications for them."

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On the topic of filters, JoAnne Kalish is quick to mention this image from her recent trip to Paris. "My sister and I were visiting a friend there and when we arrived at my friend's apartment we were able to look out on this view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. After joking about the lights looking like diamonds when they twinkled, my sister and I decided to visit the Tower up close. When I made this photograph I was looking for something a little different, so I used the Singh-Ray Color Intensifier to bring out as much color as I could and shot while moving my camera slowly upwards bringing out those sparkling diamond-like lights as well. What fun! I am also extremely fond of the Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue filter and once I start working with it, I can not put it away. The longer I use 'that filter,' the more applications I find for it. It's extremely useful in my photography."

Although DiMaggio and Kalish are based in New York and the Upper Delaware Valley, this duo maintains a globe-trotting shooting schedule as well operating the DiMaggio/Kalish Learning Center. Learn more about their many workshops and projects by visiting their website.