Shot this about 5 years ago using slide film. This was shot in the morning and I waited until the light covered the whole lighthouse. Had to use a 3 stop split ND filter on this or I would of lost either the lighthouse or the foreground exposure. Peggys cove is not far from Halifax and it's a fun place to shoot first thing in the AM. Not recommended later since it is literally swarming with people.
I told a friend that I was going to buy Singh Ray ND and GND filters and she responded:
I was going to get grad ND filters and holders, but two pros at local camera stores talked me out of it - they talked me out of sales for them. You can do what the filters do by taking two shots on a tripod: one for the highlights and one for the shadows, and then blend them various ways. Or, you can take 3 or more shots for HDR - I'm sure I gave you Photomatix. If you have enough time to put together the grad ND and set it up as best you can for the horizon, you have enough time to take 2-5 shots in quick succession at different shutter speeds.
David, I am going to send her your image as an answer to her thoughts. Lovely image and clearly demonstrates why you use split or graduated NDs.
Hi Jay, Thanks for the nice words. Even though I have photomatrix(recently aquired) I would still use the GND's in the field. Now with digital it's easy for me to see how many stops to adjust on the filter without having to read the difference between the high and low exposures and figure out the stop difference. I have a 2 and 3 stop GND filters...
Dave, I like the image a lot. The sweet light and good use of the GND gives a wonderful mood. Only nit is that the image looks slightly tipped to the left. A little CW rotation would make the light house straight.
I haven't downloaded and accurately checked but my eye says that the water in the BG is not "completely" square; we know that would be square even if the lighthouse is leaning :eek: a bit!
Hey Dave,
If it is off...only a hair!....and doesn't detract from the great light. Way to use the split ND and you used the FG very nicely to lead us to the light!
Jay.....combining exposures has it's place today in the world of photography......so does the split ND filter. If you read outdoor photographer or pop photo or countless others........most of the pros still feel there is a place for the split ND... myself included. In todays day of free megs........try both and argue which one looks better when you get home! I have seen way too many cartoonish merges in photomatix as well as seeing some outstanding ones. Doing both ensures you don't leave wanting more!
Late to the party but where where did the line from the grad filter leave off Dave (if you can remember). Can't see any hint of it in the photo, except maybe the very top edge??
Hi Jackie, I used a soft edge GND filter. I brought the shaded part down to the bottom of the lighthouse. It has a soft edge so it doesn't leave a noticeable line.
Peggys Cove Lighthouse at First Light
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