New to Graduated Neutral Density filters

[Btreize]

Hi experts,
New to photography and from the little i know i managed to get me a Cokin P holder and GND filters 0.6 & 0.9 ones. Bought them specially for landscape and seascape photography which were the main reasons i purchased the Canon 500D.
These kind of shots i've seen here and from other top photographers, have inspired me and i would like to have even half of these kind of shots :oops:
But I have some difficulties in metering, exposure and finding the right settings to be used with them.
In Av mode, set to f16 i expose for the ground and then recompose the whole scene but find myself with a shutter of 4-5 secs and a blown sky even with my filters or even with both stacked together.

Manual mode, i expose same foreground till Exposure compensation meter is in the middle and then recompose for the whole scene but still same result.
What am i doing wrong here??am i exposing wrongly or do not know how to expose (a refreshing course will help) or wrongly choosing my settings?? Wrongly choosing my metering mode??
Would experts post some examples or tutorials on doing this right??
Help from the you will be more than appreciated.
Btreize

[argyle]

You need to take two meter readings, one for the sky and one for the foreground. Determine the exposure difference between them in stops, and that's the strength of the GND you'll need.

[dmccabe]

rule #1 - use a tripod.

rule #2 - when shooting a high contrast landscape, until you get comfortable learning proper exposure, bracket the shot. Take the shot, with 6 different exposures. This way you will cover the highlights in the sky and get shadow detail in the foreground.

rule #3 - use manual mode. learn manual mode. learn to read the histogram.

the more you practice, the more you will be able to predict the correct exposure before you shoot.

[WillOPhotos]

Live View and real Time Histogram :) prety much use this 100% of the time, think the 500d has this??

[jrader]

You need to take two meter readings, one for the sky and one for the foreground. Determine the exposure difference between them in stops, and that's the strength of the GND you'll need.
+1
In so many words, this is the way to do it. If you're going to be doing sunrise/sunset pictures, it's about a 3-4 stop difference (in cloudless surroundings) between foreground and sky at the golden hour.

Good luck.

John

[IslandCrow]

I'm not entirely sure about the 500D, but I know the default setting for my 40D sets the exposure when I press the shutter button halfway down. In other words, if you're metering off the ground using the camera and then releasing the shutter button, it will set a new exposure when you take the picture. As stated, manual exposure is generally a better choice for landscape photos, and bracketing is never a bad idea. You generally have plenty of time for it, and even if I was a professional, I don't think I'd be so confident that I only took one shot.

[argyle]

Set your camera to Av mode and select your desired aperture for the necessary DOF...this will lock in the aperture value. Next, with the aperture dialed in, meter the foreground and sky...you should see a noticeable difference in the shutter speed for each. The difference between the two in stops will give you the strength of the necessary ND. Or, if you'd rather, Tv mode is also an option when metering...this will give you the aperture values for the scene...makes it easier to determine the filter strength more directly. Finally, keep an eye on your histogram, and expose to the right. As someone else has already has posted, bracketing is a must.