Soft or Hard??

Braeden

Braeden

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Name
Lee
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Of course I'm on about graduated filters!!;)

I'm about to order some filters and wondered whether soft or hard graduated filters would be preferable for landscapes?
 
It depends on the type of landscape and focal distance of lens.

For seascapes and others where the horizon is straight go for hard. But even for short / wide angle lenses you'll be surprised when you can get away with a hard. Also the Lee Filters book is quite useful and reading that you'll be surprised in the examples when they use a hard grad when you might think a soft is being used.
 
For straight horizons (seascapes, etc) use a hard grad, anything else would probably be a soft grad. Saying that like Freester said the Lee Inspiring Professionals book you'll be surprised what you can get away with using a hard grad :thumbs:
 
They are going to be used with my 18-55mm lens (my only lens for the moment) and as for types, I'm off to the south coast in a couple of weeks so I would guess mainly sea scapes and quite flat landscapes at the moment but hilly landscapes when I go up to the lakes later in the year.

I'm guessing that I will be fine with hard for now and then I could look to purchase some soft filters later in the year...?
 
It really depends on budget. Whilst you're getting used to things I would probably get a 2 stop ND Hard. If budget allows and you're definitely going to be doing a lot of non-seascape get a 2 stop softm also. The 2 stop will be the one you use most of the time.
 
so you wouldnt bother with ND2 and ND8 graduated filters at the moment? Just stick with ND4?

If so then I can afford both a soft and a hard :thumbs:
 
if you're using a tripod you can expose for the sky and the land separately then draw on the contours in photoshop gives you a perfect ND every time ;)
 
I will be using a tripod, but I want to minimise my post processing time so I'd rather use filters and get it right in camera (or at least try to!) :)
 
Braeden said:
so you wouldnt bother with ND2 and ND8 graduated filters at the moment? Just stick with ND4?

If so then I can afford both a soft and a hard :thumbs:
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80% of the time my 2 stop is the weapon of choice. The 3 stop can give an unnatural effect if not used with care. 1 stop can be sorted in PP most of the time. After some use I am sure you'll want more than just 2 stop but I think to get started 2 stop soft and hard is a good way to go.

david1701 said:
if you're using a tripod you can expose for the sky and the land separately then draw on the contours in photoshop gives you a perfect ND every time ;)
Click to expand...

Yes you can do it this way, I do and have a lot. Without care and time it can look unnatural and I find it more satisfying getting it right in camera.
 
fantastic, thank you :thumbs:
 
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