Filters or layers?

[turnpike]

Recently I've been giving landscapes a try. I got some hitech filters and a cheap cokin wide holder which works fine.

Last week I did a bit of post processing on some non filtered bracketed exposures. I just brushed in some blown sky from the darker exposure using a mask in photoshop.

It got me wondering why bother with the extra time and setup when out and about with filters when you can just touch up bracketed exposures afterwards at home?

I do like using the filters, but graduated is a straight line. Rarely will you not have a tree or rock sticking into your filtered area.

Am I missing something? Isn't it easier and quicker to do it afterwards?

Cheers!
Carl

 

[Critical I]

Recently I've been giving landscapes a try. I got some hitech filters and a cheap cokin wide holder which works fine.

Last week I did a bit of post processing on some non filtered bracketed exposures. I just brushed in some blown sky from the darker exposure using a mask in photoshop.

It got me wondering why bother with the extra time and setup when out and about with filters when you can just touch up bracketed exposures afterwards at home?

I do like using the filters, but graduated is a straight line. Rarely will you not have a tree or rock sticking into your filtered area.

Am I missing something? Isn't it easier and quicker to do it afterwards?

Cheers!
Carl

The real advantage of an ND or other grad is that you can stop the highlights in the sky from blowing out in the first place. However it is easier if you have straight horizons, and of course bracketing or HDR can do much the same.

There are plenty of techniques in photoshop that emulate and even surpass the effects of grads, so yes, on the whole I would agree.

However there are filters you cannot emulate in photoshop such as polarisers to reduce reflections, or ND filters to reduce shutter speed when you want to blur movement in bright conditions.

 

[turnpike]

Thanks for your thoughts Steve. Yeah I definitely still use the ND and the polariser is always on my wide angle. I'm not into HDR. Tried it but never really enjoyed the results I get.

 

[Critical I]

Thanks for your thoughts Steve. Yeah I definitely still use the ND and the polariser is always on my wide angle. I'm not into HDR. Tried it but never really enjoyed the results I get.

Yeah, me too. HDR never looks quite right. Bit of an arsty fad IMO.

Still have a full set of grads for shooting on bright days, but also use layers and graduated colour overlays with various soft or hard light blend modes too, which allows you to add some serious contrast to a sky that starts out with almost none. Very difficult to mask some types of foreground though, especially trees!

Funnily enough about the only filter I never use is a polariser. Not that I dont like em, just most of my lenses vignette with them.

It's all fun!

 

[existent]

I do like using the filters, but graduated is a straight line. Rarely will you not have a tree or rock sticking into your filtered area.

Am I missing something? Isn't it easier and quicker to do it afterwards?

Cheers!
Carl

I think it's the exactly opposite... Putting on a filter in 2 minutes is faster (and more convenient) than exposure blending (or whatever is called on photoshop) every picture you take.

And if you are using a soft graduated nd filter, the transition is not as sudden and makes it easier to use on uneven horizon.


But, you can get a better result on photoshop, especially if you are good at it. There have been times where I have used both the nd grad filters and also had to merge 2 exposures on photoshop... especially sunset/sunrise shots where foreground is really dark compared to sky....

 

[DorsetDude]

Recently I've been giving landscapes a try. I got some hitech filters and a cheap cokin wide holder which works fine.

Hi carl, what size hitechs filters have you got? I am assuming they are ND grad.

Ive been going through similar thought processes to you and as I get more familiar with photoshop elements am finding blending 2 or 3 exposres together is not that tricky and gives a good result.
Like you say the horizon in reality is never going to be flat so peaks and trees etc are going to be unnaturally darker.
If the Cokin wide filter would hold Hitech 100x150mm though, Id be tempted to order a few.