Anyone who has flipped through a John Shaw or Galen Rowell book has gazed enviously at their stunning images. From glorious sunrises along the ocean to majestic lake and mountain scenes, many of these dramatic images are achieved by applying some sort of graduated split neutral density filter. This wonderful filter is often the backbone for executing striking exposures in difficult lighting situations.

Graduated split neutral density filters come in many forms. They can be as subtle as one stop to three stops, in both hard edge and soft grad variations. Their primary use is to bring brightly lit background subjects such as mountains, the sun, and or the sky into a closer exposure proximity to a foreground subject that is not as well lit. They work wonders when used properly. What I want to share is how you can use split neutral density filters in less obvious situations.

While walking through a local state park, I happened upon a quaint little creek scene. I composed an image where there were enough elements to make an intriguing vertical image: a nice rock, some fresh spring green plants, and a swift moving creek, as well as a thick growth of woods as a backdrop. After finding a satisfactory setup (example 1), I then began to spot meter the scene. Many of the most important elements of the foreground metered to within a half stop of each other; a perfectly acceptable range to achieve the exposure I wanted. As I began to meter the background and the upper regions of the image, I noticed that my exposure values kept rising. First it was one stop, then one and half, then two and two and a half stops over what I was using as a base exposure for my foreground.

I was going to bracket a few frames but had the feeling I wasn't going to be satisfied with the overexposure. I turned to my bag and pulled out my 3 stop soft grad split nd. I knew I wouldn't have to use the whole filter to cover the scene and the grad was gradual enough that I could adjust it without worry over several exposures (example 2). I bracketed a few frames; each time tweaking the split nd's position in its holder by raising it up or down in the frame. The second of the two images is the stronger one and it was the one where the filter was applied. Each image was shot at f/22 @ 3.25 seconds.

Another way to use a Split Neutral Density Filter creatively is to fashion it upside down. The image of the grasses and Pitch Pines, taken in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey is a good example of using the filter in an unconventional way.

In this scene (example 3), the sun was fairly low in the sky. I used the greens of the Pitch Pines as my middle tone. The light cascading down was warm but since there was nothing to diffuse the light, the grasses in the foreground metered between two and three stops over what the greens in the pines were metering. Had I exposed the image without a filter, the grasses would be uncomfortably blown out, detail would be lost and the image would invariably have found its way into the trash. For this image I again used a soft graduated split neutral density filter. The soft grad allows enough of a gradient that it can be adjusted to fit the scene properly. My initial exposure was set to the greens in the pines, making the grasses about two and a half stops over before applying the filter. By adjusting the filter position, from lighter to darker, I was able to bracket exposures without changing the exposure setting, f/22 @ ¼ second. Having the ability to adjust my filter positions allowed me the flexibility to take on this difficult lighting situation.

There are many kinds of graduated split nd's on the market. I use a rectangular model (Singh-Ray) for which you need a filter holder, though the holder is not always essential. Though they are more expensive than the circular filters, the rectangular ones offer freedom to adjust and tweak the image, which makes it worth the price. Rectangular/Square filter makers are Cokin, Hi-Tech, Lee and Singh-Ray. The split nd's I keep in my bag are the 2 and 3 stop soft grads, the 3 stop hard edge grad, and the 2 stop reverse grad.

Graduated Split Neutral Density Filters are a must for any photographer, even in a digital age. They can be a little tricky to use at first, but with practice and creativity you will find that difficult lighting situations can be dealt with much easier when using a graduated split nd.

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