Meter reading to obtain stops

[rookies]

Ok Folks

I have always found this hard.

If I was take a landscape photo with bright sky I know I got to get a reading of the ground and a reading of the sky to find what stops it is so I can put in one of my ND Grad. But how do I get this stop how do I work it out?

 

[Dogfish_magnet]

Have a look here

 

[Carl V]

Depending on which brands of filter you were using, it would work out like this:

For 1 stop difference: ND2 (Hoya/B+W filters) or 0.3 ND (Lee filters)
For 2 stops difference: ND4 or 0.6 ND
For 3 stops difference: ND8 or 0.9 ND

Once you have taken meter readings from both the ground and the sky, set the camera up to expose the ground and add the corresponding filter depending on the differences between the two readings.

Actually, there's a decent website on landscape photography, and this link will tell you about using graduated filters:

http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/graduated-filters.html