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How to dodge and burn in-camera to preserve highlights and save time in post

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Graduated ND filters will help you get perfect exposure in-camera when shooting landscapes and cityscapes. However, the area they cover sometimes just won’t cut it for the scene you’re trying to capture. Of course, you can sometimes fix it in post, but why not try getting it right in-camera?

In this video, Karl Taylor demonstrates a simple but effective technique of dodging and burning in-camera, relying on the old darkroom method. It will help you nail the exposure, preserve details in highlights, and it could save you some post-processing time.

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Here are some ideas on how to use a variable ND filter for shooting landscapes

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Attaching the NiSi Vario filter to a lens basically means that we have added a fourth dimension to our camera. The exposure triangle; aperture, iso, shutter speed, has been expanded with a fourth variable with which we can play to achieve a desired effect or outcome. This of course opens up for new creative opportunities in our photography, and also adds a lot of flexibility to our shooting.

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Here’s how to figure out which ND filters you need

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If you need ND filters, it may be a tough choice which ones to buy since there are so many of them in the market. And if solid ND filters are what you prefer, how do you know which ones you need? Let Griffin Hammond help you with that. In this video, he explains how solid ND filters differ and how you can calculate which one would be perfect for your current shooting situation.

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Graduated ND filters or multiple exposures: what is the best option for a landscape photographer?

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Using a Graduated Neutral Density filter is fairly easy and doesn’t require any advanced techniques in post-production but the easiest option isn’t always the best choice; due to the filter’s transition being horizontal, anything above the distinction will be darkened and anything below will be left alone.

This is a good solution when there’s a flat horizon but what do we do when there are mountains projecting above it? What do we do when there are large trees in the image? Using a GND filter means that they’ll be darkened as well. That’s something we want to avoid.

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Need protection for your expensive filters? This hard filter case could be what you need

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Most of us neglect filters since they’re cheap and easily replaceable. However, investing in an affordable case for protection wouldn’t hurt as well. That’s especially if you own high-end filters that cost hundreds of dollars or more. In LensVid’s latest video, they review a cheap E-Bay case you might want to use for your next shoot.

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The problem with variable NDs and why fixed NDs are still relevant

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Variable neutral density filters are quite a wonderful thing. In theory. They let you adjust your exposure outside of the camera’s own systems as the light on your scene changes. They’re quick and convenient, and expensive if you want a good one. But are they really all that good?

Lok Cheung used variable ND filters during his tenure at Digital Rev. He was typically the one manning the camera filming Kai. But since he’s gone solo, he’s noticed that they’re not really as practical as he’d like. Nor do they really offer the quality that one needs today. In this video, he explains why variable NDs just don’t hold up to the job, and why fixed NDs reign supreme.

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This is the only lens filter you cannot replicate behind a computer

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When I took on photography, there were a lot of filters to consider. ND, Haze, warming, cooling, grad-ND, polarizers. Heck, I had so many filters that sometimes they needed a little bag of their own inside my photography bag. Today though, most of the filters can be mimicked with photoshop.

Landscape photographer Mark Denney makes an interesting point, he shows three of the more common filters, ND, Grad-ND and a circular polarizer and while two of those filters can be replaced with photoshop-work. Mark asks a simple question, would you rather be spending your time editing in front on a computer, or hiking and shooting behind a camera.

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Are cheap ND filters really any good?

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Using ND filters is a great way to get creative with your photography, creating motion in your images with long exposures, being able to shoot wide open in full sun, producing smooth silky waters are just a few ways to have fun with them. In this blog I show you how I used a cheap eBay variable ND filter to produce these images below and then compare the images using more expensive and excellent quality B+W filters.

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3 ways to smooth out jumpy time lapse movies

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If you’ve ever taken a long time lapse only to discover your shutter settings were bad, you know how frustrating it can be. Instead of having a nice blurred sequence you end up with jumpy footage. Somewhat of a staccato. While it id obviously best to get that motion blur in camera, if you totally missed it here are three ways from Preston Kanak to fix jumpy footage.

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Create Cheap ND Filters For Your DJI Phantom 3

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Photo hacker and drone pilot Rui M. Leal was a little disappointed “Jell-O effect” and dark corners on his new DJI Phantom 3. After reading about how a neutral density filter can help reduce or eliminate this, he set about finding one. However, as he soon discovered, there aren’t currently a whole lot of accessories for the stock camera, so he set about creating some himself.
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