A few weeks back I took the plunge and ordered the Lee 150 mm Neurtral density filter kit made specifically for the nIkon 14-24 mm lens. This week I got to use them. The kit included a 1 ,2 , & 3 stop hard graduated filter. Hard refers to the transition between the line where diffusion begins. This type of filter is used for ocean landscapes as there is usually a horizon line that can be matched with the filter.
Sunset photography
I found the filters easy to use, and had a lot of fun at the beach close to my home. I went to the beach at sunset on consecutive days. To get the exposure I metered the background and set an exposure, then metered the foreground using the same shutter speed and got an F stop that was 2 stops higher. So I selected the two stop filter. I knew I had a limited time till the light changed to a one stop difference so I kept that filter close by.
The sunset was not spectacular by Maui standards but it was still nice and I got to play with using different shutter speeds and f-stops. Here are two images.
Lee 150 mm ND filter for Nikon 14 x 24 lens
Each day on Maui, you can expect a different sky at sunset. Thats part of the fun as you never know what kind of sky you will get. Using ND filters means I can most often find a filter to match the conditions allowing for balanced photographs to be created.
Using Lee 2 stop ND hard graduated filter
Notice the motion in the water and the saturation of color in the sky. This was a really fun exercise and I look forward to doing more sunset session in the weeks to come.
Happy imaging everyone!