ND Filter: 4x, 8x, or even GND?

Hey i'm always upset with shots where the exposure of the sky is too far of a difference from the foreground.

Like sunset/late day shots.

From what i understand, a ND filter is what i need... and that it brings the contrast down, so that i can fit both exposures into one (sky AND foreground)... is that correct?


So which one is the standard ND filter? 8x? 4x? If you could only get one, which one?

And for sunsets, would you recommend a GND? Anyone have any examples, cause i see this as a huge limitation not to be able to decide where the fading ends and begins with a GND. Maybe i want the sky to only be the top 3rd of the frame....=fail?

for that scenario, you would need a gradient filter... only 1/2 the filter is darkened... a ND filter, the whole thing is darker

SMP_Homer wrote in post #6519853
for that scenario, you would need a gradient filter... only 1/2 the filter is darkened... a ND filter, the whole thing is darker

with a GND filter, dont you get really odd results?

lets say i have a sunset, with a tree in the foreground that takes up the whole right side of the frame from top to bottom.

and i use a GND to balance the sky from the foreground.

won't my tree be dark at the top, and light at the bottom? (the sky and ground properly balanced, but the tree unbalanced)

funk1196 wrote in post #6520409
with a GND filter, dont you get really odd results?

lets say i have a sunset, with a tree in the foreground that takes up the whole right side of the frame from top to bottom.

and i use a GND to balance the sky from the foreground.

won't my tree be dark at the top, and light at the bottom? (the sky and ground properly balanced, but the tree unbalanced)

Of course it's always an "in between"... There's no physical filter with the exact mask for large objects on the, let's say, "wrong side" of the picture / GND filter.
Under these circumstances i would take two pictures, one with the correct exposure for the sky and one for the foreground and merge them in post processing.