Pro Tip: If you shoot outside often in bright light, we recommend a 6-stop ND filter. If you catch yourself filming mostly inside or by bright windows, we recommend a 3-stop ND filter. Keep in mind, you can always stack two ND filters on top of each other (i.e. combining two 3-stops to make 6-stops).
The ND filter allows photographers to shoot their wide-aperture lenses in bright light without overexposing. This allows shallow depth of field and selective focus effects while under lighting conditions that exceed the shutter speed capabilities of the camera.
The truth about this technique is that it requires the use of dark filter mounted in front of the camera's lens. This is known as a Neutral Density Filter and it's not without a reason that they're considered essential by most landscape photographers.
They work differently. Basically, a polarizer is used for blocking light reflected off a surface, while an ND just makes the whole scene darker. Polarizing filters can enhance the color of the image while ND filters just block the light entering the camera.
The most popular choice of ND I would recommend for waterfalls is a 3-stop (0.9) ND filter, although you can get much higher versions right up to the 10-stop (3.0) filters that will allow you to shoot well over thirty second exposures in the midday sun.
Medium Long Exposures: 6-Stop ND Filter
A 6-Stop ND Filter allows you to increase the exposure time by six stops (equal to 64 times). This is enough to completely blur water and create some motion in the sky but, typically, it won't result in a shutter speed of several minutes.Neutral Density (ND) filters reduce the intensity of all wavelengths, or colors, of light equally from entering the camera, in measured amounts. This allows the photographer more control in selecting shutter speed and aperture combinations in a variety of conditions. The density of the filter is predetermined.
So the low-light environment of night photography will require slower shutter speed and longer exposure than available light (or darkness) will permit with a small aperture for max depth of field. Otherwise, ND filters aren't really recommended for night shooting unless paired with a polarizer.
A 10 stop ND filter allows only 1/1000th of the ambient light to reach the sensor and can be used during sunrise, sunset and the brighter parts of the day in between. You can achieve artistic effects like perfectly silky smooth water and streaky clouds.
UV / Haze and Skylight filters protect the surface of your lens against scratches, dust, moisture, and fingerprints, which in the long term can harm the lens coatings. ND and Color Graduated filters darken or tint the top or bottom (or left and right) portion of the frame while leaving the opposite side untouched.
ND filters and polarizing filters are thin pieces of glass that can be screwed onto the front of your camera lens. While they can serve the purpose of protecting the front element of the lens, these optical filters are largely meant to alter image quality than serve as protective hardware accessories.
Do You Need Neutal Density Filters for Long Exposures? No. An ND filter can make your job much easier, but it's not a necessity. You can use different in camera settings and editing tricks to create beautiful long exposures without using filters.
A neutral density (ND) filter is essential for landscape photography and comes in handy for sunset and sunrise photos because they allow you to achieve slower shutter speeds than you could normally get and create motion blur for a more compelling image.
A 0.9 ND Filter is darker and a 0.3 ND filter is less dark. A 3 stop ND filter is darker and a 1 stop ND filter is less dark, and so on and so forth. That should work for now.
Which ND filters are the best for landscape photography? The 3-stop and 6-stop are by far the best performers and at the same time allow for the greatest versatility. If you're shooting golden light (sunset, sunrise, twilight etc.)
ND filters are created in stops. A stop in photography is either halving or doubling the amount of light e.g. making the picture 1 stop darker or 1 stop lighter. In the case of ND filters, you are always halving or reducing the amount of light. So a 1 stop ND filter will be stopping the light by 50% or half.
A polarizing filter oriented vertically will filter out the glare, but still allow plenty of light through. A polarizing filter on your camera helps reduce shiny reflections. Polarizing sunglasses work the same way. Polarizing sunglasses protect your eyes from glare off a road or water.
Will the polarizer have the same effect? Yes it will*. The ND filters do not polarize the light, unless they are also polarizing ND filters (there are a few of those, but they are not common).
A stop is a doubling or halving of the amount of light let in when taking a photo. For example, if you hear a photographer say he's going to increase his exposure by 1 stop, he simply means he's going to capture twice as much light as on the previous shot.
Used to control shutter speed, neutral density filters allow the use of wide apertures like f/2.8 in bright environments, like when shooting under a harsh afternoon sun. By allowing the use of wider apertures, ND filters give videographers more creative control over their exposure parameters, like depth of field.
