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When and why you might want to use ND filters for your photography

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Along with polarizers, Neutral Density (ND) filters are pretty much the only filters most people really need these days. But what are ND filters? How do they work and why might you want to use one for your photography? Put simply, though, ND filters are sort of like sunglasses for your camera to darken down the view coming through your lens.

But how can they really be useful? After all, aren’t we typically looking for more light when we shoot and not less? Well, in this video, Mike Smith gets into the nitty-gritty of ND filters to answer that question, illustrated by images he’s shot using one.

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Aurora Aperture’s new magnetic rear filter system for ultra-wide and fisheye lenses now on Kickstarter

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Putting filters on ultra-wide-angle lenses isn’t usually an easy or inexpensive task. Sure, it’s possible, but you need to get some pretty large filter holders and filters to match. The trend amongst some lens manufacturers lately has been to support rear “gel” filters. Filters that sit behind the lens that you attach before you mount it to your camera.

Aurora Aperture has recently announced their “next-generation” of rear mount filters. And best of all, they actually work with lenses that don’t have built-in mounts as the system uses its own magnetic mounts, tailored specifically to your lenses. Now, they’re available on Kickstarter and they’ve already doubled their goal.

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How to shoot smooth timelapse of fast moving subjects during the day

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Timelapses are a lot of fun to shoot. I don’t shoot them anywhere near as often as I would like, but I try to shoot them as often as I possibly can. Shooting them in daylight, though, can present some challenges, especially if you have fast-moving subjects like people or vehicles. Yes, when it comes to timelapse, people are fast moving subjects.

It often results in very jerky motion with one frame looking drastically different from the last, losing that flow of motion we like to see in a timelapse. There is a way to solve the problem. Two, actually. And in the above video from Fenchel & Janisch, Moritz Janisch walks us through both of them.

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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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How to get that cinematic look with an f/1.2 lens in bright sunlight

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Shooting stills in bright sunlight with fast glass with super wide apertures is fairly easy. You just knock down your ISO and speed up your shutter until you have your exposure under control. But when you’re shooting video, that’s not really an option if you want that cinematic look. Your shutter speed’s generally locked at 1/50th of a second for 24p video (1/100th for 50fps, 1/125th for 60fps, etc).

It’s a bit like working outdoors in bright conditions with flash that doesn’t support high speed sync. Once you hit that sync speed your shutter simply won’t go any faster. The go to option in both cases is neutral density. Filters that go over your lens to reduce the amount of light entering it and hitting your sensor. This video from weird lens guru, Mathieu Stern, shows a slightly different approach.

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The Power of Shutter Speed In Two Photographs

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Shutter speed is one of the first elements of photography that you learn as a beginner. Learning how to control your camera’s shutter speed to make sure your images are sharp and well exposed is Photography 101.

Learning how to use shutter speed creatively to manipulate the look and feel of an image is something else entirely, and something that I continue to experiment with a lot.

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Think 10 stops of ND is a lot? How about 17 hour exposures with Lee Filters’ new 15 stop Super Stopper

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Announced today via Lee Filters UK distributor, Linhof Studio, a new member joins the Stopper family, adding to the 10 stop Big Stopper and 6 stop Little Stopper.

That new member, the Super Stopper, blocks a massive 15 stops of light, reducing the incoming light hitting your sensor to 1/32,000th of its original intensity!

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