Hoya HMC ND4 Filter
There will be occasions when you have to take a picture under the harsh afternoon sun. For instance, when you are on a tour and the schedule just does not permit a revisit to a place under better lighting conditions. In such cases, your photos may just turn out with overblown skies, with loss of details in the clouds, such as the case below.
One solution is to cut down the brightness of the entire scene. A Neutral Density filter does just that and can be attached to the front of your lens, effectively limiting the amount of light entering the lens by a designated number of stops. In the sample below, I applied an ND4 filter and you may immediately see the benefits as the details are once again returned to the skies.
I used a Hoya HMC ND4 filter on top of my Hoya HMC UV filter (which is always on the lens) with my Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. Both photos taken at f/8 and 1/1000 secs. It does not change the color hue nor saturation of the image. Results are just great!
Admittedly, landscapers use the ND graduated filter more often, and perhaps circular polarizes are used even more in general. But that will be another topic for another time 🙂
You can see the clouds better with the filter. 🙂
Hmmm … seems like a drop in overall exposure of the entire picture. Maybe I am seeing things!
Lisa, yes the details do not get blown out. There are other uses for this filter, of course, such as slowing the shutter speed to capture motion.
Wilfrid, yes the effect of the filter is to stop down the amount of light entering the lens. So the entire image is affected. But for the sake of the comparison, I kept all settings the same for both pictures. Thus the second looks under-exposed.
I see. I thought a filter is to selectively drop the amount of light. As such, the sky is less bright but the buildings below remain the same. Reason why I said this is that I could possibly achieve the 2nd photo by dropping the overall exposure without the usage of a filter.
To be honest, I would prefer the blue color of the 1st photo. Although the 2nd photo shows more cloud texture eh?
Again, I am no expert. Just an observer, lol.
I think the filter you’re talking about is the ND graduated filter, such as the excellent ones from Lee Filters. That will allow you to set the filter along the horizon, for example.
yeah…i usually used a ND filter on a bright day so that I can use a slower shutter speed without overexposing the photo. eg a waterfall shot.
But a circular polariser filter can achieve the same effect by cutting light by 2 stops 🙂
thanks for sharing… great info for a beginner like me. I just bought a Hoya HMC ND 8 filter, do u think it’s too dark? Also, is it hard to find an ND graduated filter?
Eunice, I assume you will be using a tripod when using the ND8 filter. And judging by the photos on your blog, you will be using this for landscapes during the “Golden Hours”. If so, it should not be a problem, as you will have the flexibilty to drop shutter speed. The Graduated filters are slightly more difficult to find and you need to get the frame as well. I checked out the Lee filters at Cathay Photo and they cost quite a bit. It is much easier to find and cheaper in Hong Kong, but double check for quality of the goods.
“But a circular polariser filter can achieve the same effect by cutting light by 2 stops”
A circular polarizer filter cutting the light only by 1 1/3 stops.
So a circular polarizer many times are not enough !!!
plus many times the CP filter have no 100% effect every time.
That’s the reason to get 2 basic filter:
A Hoya Circular polarizer, and a Hoya ND4
The comparative photos are excellent !!!!!!!