[rental_metard]

I just finished reading a really interesting article and its got me thinking:

Achieve Beautiful Landscape Photos with a Neutral Density Filter (http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/theory/understanding-using-ansel-adams-zone-system/AC)

what are your thoughts?

[LiquidTurbo]

As someone who really enjoys shooting landscapes.. I don't know. Photoshop can do a lot these days.. I don't think those filters are necessary unless you really need to balance out a very bright white sky.

[Senna4ever]

Photoshop is no substitute for getting the exposure right in-camera. You potentially increase noise, lose sharpness & detail. BUT, if the difference between the highlights and shadows is less than about 4 stops, then the digital GND filter that's built into Lightroom works quite well. Or, you can take 3 shots of differing exposures and stack them in Photoshop.

Look at ColinK's landscapes on page 509 in the snapshots thread - can't do that without a GND filter without some work in Photoshop. With a GND filter, you just press the shutter.

[skyxx]

^ Ditto and it saves a lot of time!

[-EuroRSN-]

Photoshop is no substitute for getting the exposure right in-camera. You potentially increase noise, lose sharpness & detail. BUT, if the difference between the highlights and shadows is less than about 4 stops, then the digital GND filter that's built into Lightroom works quite well. Or, you can take 3 shots of differing exposures and stack them in Photoshop.

Look at ColinK's landscapes on page 509 in the snapshots thread - can't do that without a GND filter without some work in Photoshop. With a GND filter, you just press the shutter.

In Lightroom, the Grad Filter always seems to give alot of noise in my skies but still an essential tool if you dont have the real thing. I recently purchased a Cameron Fader ND and its awesome but gives alot of Vignetting depending on how dark you go. Wish i got a grad instead...

[Senna4ever]

^^^ Are you using Lightroom2 or 3? Lightroom3 does a much better job with the noise issue, but you shouldn't use too much of a gradient as it will make the image noisier. It also comes down to how big your final image will be - in print or on the screen.