Neutral Density Filters and What They Are Used For

Another common filter is the Neutral Density Filter and Graduated Neutral Density Filter. Both filters cut the amount of light entering in your camera for different effects.

The Neutral Density filter cuts the amount of light entering in your camera so that you may use a longer exposure. Long exposures are for taking photos of things like waterfalls and the ocean to achieve a silty or smooth look. If you were to set your camera to a long exposure in the middle of the day you would end up with a photo of nothing but white. Because the sensor was overloaded with light it could not take a proper photo. To help this you would put a neutral density filter on your camera. Because it darkens the image the camera sees you can leave the shutter open longer to get a long exposure photograph. You would use this picture to achieve motion blur.

The Graduated Neutral Density filter looks different. Half is dark like sunglasses the other half is clear. You don't notice much that it is a slight graduation between the two. It gently fades from the dark to light. Because a camera cannot expose images the way we see them. The sky bright and blue, the mountains dark and green. It can only expose for one. The sky will be bright and blue, but the mountains will be black. Or the mountains will be bright and green but the sky a faded gray or white. Perhaps with a slight touch of blue but not as we have seen it. A Graduated Neutral density filter allows the camera to expose for both in landscape photography.

Simply put the filter on. Adjust the filter so that the darker part goes over the sky and take your picture again. Because the camera sees that part of the image as darker, the sky will be closer to exposed properly and the foreground or the mountain will be exposed as it was before.

Both of these filters are specialized filters. they might not have a use in your every day photography but when you come across a situation where they could be useful they help you create a beautiful image with just an adjustment to your filters.