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-Neutral Density FILTER(ND4) -
The Indispensable Filter for quality pictures
The Neutral Density Filter is like sunglasses: when the light is too strong, for example, on the beach or in the snow, the picture is usually overexposed, it means, too much illuminated. This can happen when the flash is very powerful and you are near the subject to photograph. This filter, also known as ND Filter (Neutral Density), will allow you to obtain the correct exposition without a cromatic aberration, giving a real appearance of a professional picture.
The ND Filter is not only helpful in the occasions before mentioned. When appeasing the illumination, it allows you to use a slower shutter speed. There are occasions when we need to use slow shutter speeds to perceive better the scene movement, and this is not possible because of the light excess going into the diaphragm. In this case the ND Filter works as sunglasses, which regulate the light entrance giving the possibility to play with others factors such as depth of field and movement.
Those are some examples, although the posibilities are unlimited.
The pictures below were taken trying to give them movement to the action. In the middle picture you can appreciate how the shutter speed OF 30 seconds affects to a picture without the filter, the light going in is excessive. Nevertheless in the last picture you can see how the filter avoided the light excess, giving a perfect picture.
Considering that whatever greater is the opening of the diaphragm, minor is the depth of field.
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Normal Shutter Speed
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Shutter Speed
30 seconds,
WITHOUT ND Filter
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Shutter Speed
30 seconds,
WITH ND Filter
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THE NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS ARE ACUMULABLE
IF YOU USE TWO ND4 TOGETHER YOU WILL OBTAIN A ND8
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To take this picture we used 7 minutes 30 seconds shutter speed. Without the filter we wouldn't see anything at all.
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During the day: A bridge with a lot of traffic can destroy our picture.
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Nevertheless applying a long shutting time you can make the cars disappear. The car movement makes a gradually erasing of the cars in the picture. Without the filter, the picture would be almost white but with it, we made the perfect picture..
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ND filters are useful for those 3 situations:
BE CAREFUL: In order to take some of those pictures, your camera needs some predetermined features as a shutter timing or an aperture shutter. These functions are not included in all cameras.
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