High Sierra Topix

Hello,
My wife is an amateur photographer and I was hoping to get her a GND filter for her birthday. I believe she has a Canon EOS Rebel T5. I am most familiar with the Singh Ray Galen Rowell series filters but a cursory glance reveals that there are a number of other GND filters on the market, some of them much more affordably priced. Given that cost is a consideration (but not as important as getting a quality product) which filters would you recommend?
My sincere thanks,
Andy

Hi Andy,

When folks ask this question at my shows, my answer is always, buy the best you can afford. Why put a cheap piece of glass on the end of a several hundred or several thousand dollar lens? It only degrades the optics if you go cheap, Singh Rays are good, personally my preference are filters from B+W Schneider Optics, but there are others too.

Thanks for the tip, Maverick. When I look at B+W Schneider's website, I see so many choices for filters. How do I know which one to choose, both in terms of mm size and also between 2-stop and 3-stop? Thanks!

To get the most out of a GND filter you need to get a rectangle type that you can move up and down in the frame to put the grad right where you need it. Most circular GND filters have the split right in the middle of the filter, not where you'd usually want it. You need to find out the filter size of her goto lens she shoots with takes and buy the adapter and square holder to suit that size. Soft edge ND and +2 or +3 are more versatile in my experience.

Thanks for the tip, Maverick. When I look at B+W Schneider's website, I see so many choices for filters. How do I know which one to choose, both in terms of mm size and also between 2-stop and 3-stop? Thanks

Check the filter size needed for your particular lens, if Canon then check here: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/port ... BIS9nQSEh/

Why do you need a GND filter? Won't exposure blending work for you? Do you have a polarizer, in some cases it can be used in conjunction with a slow shutter speed to get that over done candy effect of waterfalls in shots. I do carry a 10 and 6 stop GND occasionally, but use it and take it only when I have a specific artistic vision in mind, or if the forecast calls for windy conditions, it allows me to get an interesting effect of the lakes surface that may make an otherwise unusable shot quite appealing.

Thanks for the responses! Maverick, to answer your questions, what I'm hoping for my wife to be able to do is preserve the color of a morning or evening sky without darkening the foreground too much. As you know, in the early morning in the Sierras the contrast between the sky and, say, a meadow in the foreground is often intense. I was under the impression that a GND is what pro photographers used most frequently to soften the contrast between sky and foreground. As far as the "milky" effect for waterfalls and streams, that's not a primary concern but if you take a long exposure to capture that effect, doesn't it often wash out the sky? Anyway, that's what I was hoping for her to be able to do, better capture early morning landscapes without losing the integrity of the color of the sky; if there's a better way to do that than a GND filter I'm open to suggestions! Also, my sense is she would enjoy shooting with the filter much more than she would enjoy post-processing procedures in photoshop, simply because of the time requirement. Thanks again!

Your GND works fine if you have parallel lines, which is not the case with a lot of landscapes. Taking a one shot for the highlights, histogram to the right without clipping, one for the shadows, histogram to the right without clipping, and one over all shot will ensure that you will have all the info for an excellent file, also make sure you shoot raw, especially for those special once in a life time shots, otherwise you will be throwing away a lot of valuable information, which no amount of post processing can get back.
Also, you need to use a tripod to ensure that there is no movement, otherwise the photo's won't align properly. Hope this helps, if you have any more question PM me.

Here is one of many sites that explain the concept of exposure blending: http://christopherodonnellphotography.c ... ur-images/