Black White Photography - UK (2019-11)

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B+W

Grads come in three main densities - 0.3,

0.6 and 0.9 – which reduce the brightness

of the sky by 1, 2 and 3 stops respectively.

Some manufacturers also produce a

1.2 ND grad, which tones down the sky

by 4 stops, and intermediate grads with

densities of 0.45 and 0.75, which darken

the sky by 1½ and 2½ stops respectively.

You can manage without the intermediate

strengths, but it’s worth buying 0.3, 0.6 and

0.9. The 0.3 is actually too weak in most

situations, but you can always use it with

a 0.9 grad when contrast is really high, so

you get a four-stop reduction. A 0.9 tends

to be used mainly at dawn and dusk or

when shooting into the light, while the

0.6 grad is ideal for general use.

If you’re not sure which one you need,

take a test shot with a 0.6 grad, check the

image on your camera’s preview screen,

then switch to either a 0.3 or more likely

a 0.9 if the effect isn’t right. It doesn’t

matter if the sky’s a little light providing you

haven’t blown the brighter areas, because

you can select and darken it later.

2 CHOOSE YOUR GRAD DENSITY
Stokksnes, Iceland
I used a 0.45 hard grad when I captured this
scene, with the grad covering the sky and
mountains down to the horizon so they balanced
with the reflection in the water.
Canon EOS 5Ds with 16-35mm zoom lens, 0.45 ND
hard grad, 1/4sec at f/11, ISO 100

Pienza, Tuscany, Italy

A soft ND grad was used for this shot as the church and

other buildings were breaking the skyline and would

have been affected more obviously by a hard grad.

ND grads come in hard and soft versions,

and in some cases, medium and very hard.

This refers to how the neutral density part

of the filter graduates down to clear – with

harder grads the change is quite sudden

whereas with softer grads it’s gentle. Hard

grads are better when the horizon is clear

as they give a more consistent effect,

whereas soft grads are more forgiving when

the horizon is broken by hills or buildings.

I shoot with full-frame DSLRs and favour

hard grads most of the time, especially

when shooting landscape and coastal

scenes. I also carry 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2 density

soft grads to use in situations where a hard

grad might leave tell-tale signs of its use.

To align an ND grad, slide it down into the

holder while looking through your camera’s

viewfinder – you should see it darken

the sky and when the effect reaches the

horizon, stop. Alternatively, align the grad

while looking at your camera’s preview

screen in live view mode. You can do all this

before you take a meter reading as modern

3 HARD OR SOFT GRADS? 3

2

digital cameras use sophisticated multi-

zone metering patterns so they’re not

fooled by the grad like centre-weighted

metering used to be.