What Lee Filters Should I buy

[Gonk0]

I'm looking at investing in some Lee Filters, but I'm unsure exactly what I should be getting.

Should I be looking to buy a standard set of ND Grad 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 with SOFT graduations, or should I buy a set of ND Grad 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 with HARD graduations, or should I just mix and match between the
two of them, in which case what I would I need to buy.

I mainly get out to shoot landscapes with trees in the background, so the horizon is uneven, but I will be heading to Adelaide next February and I will be out to see how I go shooting some seascapes
with a flat horizon.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ricktas]

ND Grads are for equalising the sky and ground brightness levels, to get a better exposure, in one shot. Trees etc that dominate and are above the horizon will end up looking darker at the top of them than further down the graduation. If you are happy to accept this, then ND grads are great. However I tend to use mine more for seascapes or defined line horizons, where you can move the graduation up and down and not impact other elements in the scene (like trees). But trees at quite a distance are not included in the above, it is only where something from the ground also dominates the sky.

I use soft graduated ones. I also use plain ND's as they are great for waterfalls, streams, and slow shutter speed work on coastal areas.

Just like any other bit of kit, it has great uses, but also has limitations, as long as you learn those limitations and work with them, I would suggest soft ND grad set

[Gonk0]

Thanks for the help Rick, I will get the soft ND Grad set.

[Sifor]

For sunrise/sunset seascapes I believe the reverse grad ND are the best. The darkest bit is in the middle of the filter, instead of the top like in a normal grad ND. This allows you to position the dark bit over the sun, while the foreground and the sky remain unchanged. I haven't used one myself, but I can see how it'd be very helpful. Unfortunately, they probably aren't useful for anything else but sunrise and sunsets...

Like Rick said, soft ND grad is probably the best for everything else, can handle both straight and uneven horizons. Have fun with them!

[Gonk0]

Thanks for the info on the reverse ND grad troy, I will look at getting one of those as well or even two, Hitech seem to be the reverse ND grads to go for.