The Gradient Filter everyone has....

This evening I went to Leo Carrillo Beach here in Malibu to photograph what I assumed would be an epic sunset. The first real rain clouds in quite some time made an appearance, hence my anticipation for bright sunset colors.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much color this evening, but the thick rain clouds moving fast along the shore created some pretty awesome rays of light as the sun began to set. But with these beautiful heavenly rays of light comes a very challenging task of capturing a full exposure of the sky and the beach. Since the clouds create a dark foreground and the rays of light create a bright background, it is certainly a challenging light situation to expose. That is if you aren't looking to shoot a silhouette.

There are a few things I have in the arsenal for this type of situation.

First, I always carry a set of ND (neutral density) filters. For any seascape or landscape photographer, a good set of ND filters is a must. Knowing which type to carry is a topic for another discussion (i.e. only buy glass filters, not plastic), but generally I use 3-8 stop ND filters.

You may be surprised to know that I rarely use graduated ND filters. I love circular non graduated filters. That's just a personal preference. I do not, however, stack them because I feel it degrades image quality.

This evening I used two filters. A 3-stop ND and a 6-Stop ND, but they don't solve the issue I started with. A dark foreground and a bright background lit by rays of light through the clouds.

So why did I use an ND. Simple. I love motion, and with any ND you can capture at least a bit more motion than not using one. The only problem is; To capture this motion you have to drag your shutter. And dragging your shutter means you will lose the light rays because they are so bright.

So while I have a beautiful foreground with that milky and silky water. The sky is pretty much white. (anyone whose wedding I've shot knows how much I dislike a white sky).

The solution.

Simple.

A gradient ND filter.

But there was one problem. I didn't have one. So how am I to get my light rays and the silky water at the same time?

Here's where I went old school.

I used the palm of my hand to cover the top portion of the lens (the top half because that's the part exposing the sky). Essentially, I was shooting a 5 second exposure with a 6 Stop ND filter for the foreground and a 1-2 second exposure for the sky. In other words, I manually covered the top half of my lens with my hand for 3-4 seconds of a 5 second exposure.

Yes. It's that simple. A black piece of construction paper or cloth would probably be better, but I didn't have to time to walk back to my car, so I improvised.

This method enabled me to get the rays of light, that would otherwise be too bright for a long exposure, into the the shot. I shot everything from 5-13 second exposures this evening using this technique. It takes some practice, but once you got it down, it's a wonderful way to expose your sky if you are in a bind or if you don't have a gradient filter.

And it's a heck of a lot of fun to see if you can get the exposure time correct on the first try! :-)

Here are a few shots from this evening. All of these are shot using the technique above.

-cg