I occasionally see pictures posted here that have a beautiful blue sky as well as a properly exposed subject (person, building, etc). Is this always with the use of a gradient filter or HDR? Or is there some common "in-camera" trick for doing that?
I occasionally see pictures posted here that have a beautiful blue sky as well as a properly exposed subject (person, building, etc). Is this always with the use of a gradient filter or HDR? Or is there some common "in-camera" trick for doing that?
There are no camera tricks. About the only way you can do this is with the use of gradient filters or HDR.
Oh pooh. In that case, can someone recommend a good brand to buy for a gradient ND filter? I usually use Tiffen for motion film, but all I ever read are bad reviews for their photographic stuff. Hoya maybe?
It may be cheaper if you already have Photoshop to just do HDR. Depending on your subject HDR may be the better option, plus once you learn it, it's an incredible asset. I myself have decided the HDR route instead of investing in an ND filter set just because it suits the subjects I shoot, but still I may invest in a ND Filter set b/c of, as you have said, portraits that are backlit (and the blurring of water in sunset/landscape shots).
BTW, I'm going with cokin P holder and hi-tech filters, they're cheap and I've read that they are alright.
I use Cokin ND grads, and I've been pretty happy with the results, but I have heard (second, third, fourth hand, take with appropriate sized salt chunks) that they can give the image a colour cast - that they aren't truly neutral.
I know I'm a year late but I thought I may as well post for history's sake. I bought Cokin 121 grads this past summer because I used Cokins on my old film setup. They are definitely NOT colour neutral.
I have been using the Cokin 120 and 120 filters with variable success. I find that, used together, they add an artificial magenta cast to my images that us undesirable and beyofnwhat is believable for a warm glow sunrise shot. I also find a loss of sharpess and contrast with the Cokin filters, particularly with the sold grey ND8 filter which absoluetly destroys contrast and saturation. Flare is alo a large problem when using one or more filters, resulting in double flare, so I am not happy with the anti-flare coating (if, in fact, they have one at all).
The problem with HDR, as others have said before, is that it gets pretty gimmicky pretty fast. An ND filter would give a much more natural look to a photo and would make it more like the human eye might see, whereas HDR (as cool as it can be) looks plain funky. With HDR's increased exposure the technique is cheapened somewhat, similar to what's bound to happen with the Dragan technique, if it hasn't happened already.
Hmm, very true when I think about the HDRs I've seen, first thought I usually have is "man that's amazing, how can that be?" and then in my head pops in "oh HDR". There are some HDRs that have been done that are pretty stunning and look surprisingly natural, but those are few and far between these days (and I am completely unable to produce these yet). As for Dragan, a lot of new DSLR students at my university have basically draganized all their portraits, sadly they take this as their own style
The ND filter does give the natural look, and since OP is looking at them now it seems like the logical choice. I wonder if people use HDR with reason so that it looks more natural like an ND, but then again, what's the point just buy the ND and save some precious time.