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Digipets | all galleries >> Galleries >> What I Learned > Heliopan grad, gray 4x filter
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27-APR-2004 Isabel

Heliopan grad, gray 4x filter

I learned about this filter on some forum. It is used to darken skies or areas that might be overexposed when you have shadow areas that would be too dark if you exposed the sky properly. This house is usually very dark in the front later in the day. I tested the filter to see if the filter would help. There are other manufacturers who make this type of filter and you could probably get it cheaper...but I didn't do any searching before I bought it. I found the image still needed a bit of work to bring out detail in the house. All in all I think results will be good when I learn to edit properly. Right now the image, for me, has an unreal look.

Sony Cybershot
1/1000s f/3.5 at 9.7mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time27-Apr-2004 12:36:46
MakeSony
ModelCybershot
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length9.7 mm
Exposure Time1/1000 sec
Aperturef/3.5
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Modecenter weighted (2)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programaperture priority (3)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Digipets29-Apr-2004 12:20
Here's a nice technique: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml
Isabel
Digipets29-Apr-2004 12:17
As I said in the description, I wasn't really crazy about it. Here's what Shay Stephens (a professional photographer) of the Sony forum had to say: "The "unreal" look you are talking about is probably the result of the lighting. It looks like you caught the scene while a cloud was blocking the sun, making the scene look like it was shot with an overcast sky. Had you waited until the cloud passes and there was some direct sunshine in the scene, the natural look would have been more evident because the partly cloudy sky would have been congruous with the lighting of the scene."
One of these days I'm going to have to overcome my reluctance and take a tripod out there and take a couple of images to combine!
Isabel
Guest 28-Apr-2004 14:09
Gday Isabel,

The pic is really not very good. Try the bracketing from tripod and make the "mixture" from "sky" and "earth" layers. You have to register the bracketed images - they never match perfectly. I'm doing that through making the upper layer 50%transparent and moving it - pixel by pixel - until the perfect registration. Some carefully madelayer mask does the rest.

Regards,

Great fan of your skills