Using an ND?

Would you ever use a neutral density filter just to cut some light?

A couple of weeks ago I was taking pictures outside on a bright day, using an 85mm 1.8 with fill flash. I had to dial things down so far, I'm wondering why you couldn't use an ND to cut some light?

I use one all the time mainly on moving water so I can blur waterfalls and streams. Controlling depth of field is another reason to use one.

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[QUOTE=Ron Lacey;3274005] Controlling depth of field is another reason to use one.

In what way does a neutral density filter controls depth of field? Does it add to what a particular lens can do (i.e. give a more agressive [Shallower] depth of field), or, does it give a deeper [larger front to back] depth of field than what the lens can do?

Thanks!

When you shoot a slow shutter to get the foggy water effect during the day you have to crank up your aperture, f/18 or 22 or even higher. This give you a lot of depth of field.

I'm not positive but the ND filter cuts out some light so you don't have to use the extreme aperture settings. And you can retain a shallow depth of focus. Not to mention f/22 makes every spec of dust on your lens and filter invade your shots, as I learned recenly

pigtailpat wrote in post #3274773
In what way does a neutral density filter controls depth of field? Does it add to what a particular lens can do (i.e. give a more agressive [Shallower] depth of field), or, does it give a deeper [larger front to back] depth of field than what the lens can do?

Thanks!

The neutral density filter has no effect on depth of field, but what it does do is widen your options for control of depth of field for a given shutter speed. For example, you could use an ND on a bright day to enable you to use a wider aperture than you could otherwise get away with.

It's also good if you're shooting on a bright, sunny day and you take a meter reading for the trees or whatever you're shooting. If there are clouds in the sky, the ND filter will allow capture the clouds in the sky without having the sky blown out (even if you properly expose for your subject). Another option is to take two shots - one shot you meter for the sky and the other shot you meter for the trees or subject you're shooting. Then in your digital darkroom, you can combine the shots with the photo software you use.

nburwell wrote in post #3275032
It's also good if you're shooting on a bright, sunny day and you take a meter reading for the trees or whatever you're shooting. If there are clouds in the sky, the ND filter will allow capture the clouds in the sky without having the sky blown out (even if you properly expose for your subject). Another option is to take two shots - one shot you meter for the sky and the other shot you meter for the trees or subject you're shooting. Then in your digital darkroom, you can combine the shots with the photo software you use.

That's an ND grad you're thinking of.

[QUOTE=pigtailpat;3274​773]

Ron Lacey wrote in post #3274005
Controlling depth of field is another reason to use one.

In what way does a neutral density filter controls depth of field? Does it add to what a particular lens can do (i.e. give a more agressive [Shallower] depth of field), or, does it give a deeper [larger front to back] depth of field than what the lens can do?

Thanks!

By using a ND filter on a bright day I can open up the aperture further than I might otherwise be able to, the aperture controls the depth of field, wider aperture tighter depth of field.

Ron

Would a ND filter be useful when shooting people (portraits) in bright sunlight or is it better suited for non-portraits?

nburwell wrote in post #3275032
It's also good if you're shooting on a bright, sunny day and you take a meter reading for the trees or whatever you're shooting. If there are clouds in the sky, the ND filter will allow capture the clouds in the sky without having the sky blown out (even if you properly expose for your subject). Another option is to take two shots - one shot you meter for the sky and the other shot you meter for the trees or subject you're shooting. Then in your digital darkroom, you can combine the shots with the photo software you use.

So lets talk neutral density filters for a second so we can clear up any misconcceptions. First there are ND filters. These cut the light entering the lens by different degrees depending on their strength. Here's a little ND Tutorial to help understand. ND filters are additive when stacked, i.e. a 0.3 ND (1 stop) stacked with a 0.6 ND (2 stops) will cut the light entering the lens by 0.9 (3 stops). ND filters are used to allow larger apertures and/or slower shutter speeds for a given lighting condition.

Graduated ND filters, on the other hand, only cut the light through a portion of the filter and the ND effect gradually becomes less until you reach the center of the filter where it becomes nil. This graduation can either be hard (for shots with a hard horizon line) or soft (more graduated). Grad ND's are used to balance the exposure between the sky and the landscape below to prevent blowing out the sky when shooting for a properly exposure foreground.

Mark

skrezyna wrote in post #3287469
Would a ND filter be useful when shooting people (portraits) in bright sunlight or is it better suited for non-portraits?

It can be useful for portraits if thats the only way you can get a larger aperture for DOF - but that's unlikely since you can get shutter speed pretty high on virtually all modern SLR cameras.

Mark

I have a 90 year old Wollensak lens on my 8x10 camera that has a maximum shutter speed of 1/100. Today I was shooting with ISO 400 film in bright sunlight, but I wanted a wide aperture for composition / DOF. So I had to use an ND filter to allow a wide enough aperture, given the limitations of that shutter.