UNFILTERED.
FILTERED
The first conditions i had to look at was a landscape with a overcast sky which appears featureless, now this is of course one of them grey days we sometimes get a lot of during this time of year. When i compare the two images i have to say i much prefer the unfiltered shot because in the filtered shot the sky feels very oppressive like it is baring down on you which in turn makes the whole shot feel much darker. In other circumstances this could be used to your advantage say like in my shots of Magpie Mine but in this example it just does nothing but darken the sky. Again i understand this can be a good thing because what you usually find shooting in these conditions is that the sky when exposed is just bright white because of the way the light is held in the clouds, this effect of course ruins perfectly good landscape shots but by adding the filter you can correctly expose the landscape while darkening the sky enough so that it doesn't spoil the shot.
UNFILTERED.
FILTERED.
The next set of shot that i was after was of a overcast sky with visible tonal differences, now the example I'm using doesn't maybe have the tonal range I'd have liked but you'll get the idea as i explain. In the unfiltered shot you have exposed for the foreground but by doing so you end up with the sky seeming a little bright and you've lost some of the different tones produced by the clouds, this is easily fixed by adding the grad. filter. In the second image with the filter added you see that the tonal differences are more clearer than before although because in this shot they weren't that great to begin with it doesn't standout as well. This would be more obvious in one of the skies you tend to get before or after a heavy storm in the summer months when you get the really good cloud formations that tend to range from very black though greys to white as the sun hits them. In this case the filtered shot is the one i most prefer because i like to make the skies feel a little more dramatic and by adding the filter you can achieve this.
UNFILTERED.
FILTERED.
The final set of images needed for this project was of a sunrise or sunset looking into the sun, in this instance the filter helps to pick out the different colours that are produced when the light effects off the clouds, while also if you can get the exposure right you can create a star effect of the sun when the filter is fitted. Again as before the better shot is with the filter because of the reasons I've already stated.
This project a found very informative because its show me there are more uses for a grad. filter than just to create movement within a shot which is all I've really used mine for before this point. Don't know whether its a good thing or not but I'm beginning to see that to create a good landscape shot it isn't as easy as just picking a scene and taking the shot you need to take your time and consider quiet a lot of options that are available to you that can vastly improve the overall results.
