Neutral Density Filters
Neutral density filters is a widely used
camera filters in film photography. The function of neutral density
filters is to uniformly reduce the amount of light that could be
transmitted to the film without having any effect on the color of the
image. These filters are calibrated in density units of 1/3 f-stop,
with each 0.3 density change equal to one f-stop.
Neutral density filters can be used in both black and white photography
and color photography. It also can be used in either film photography
or digital photography.
When neutral density filters is used in black and white photography, it
can alter the overall scene contrast and distribution of tones.
Whereas when neutral density filters is used in color photography, it
can allow the selection of larger f-stops without changing color at
all.
The functions of neutral density filters are:
-
Under extreme bright lighting
environment, such as sunny day at the beach or snow, neutral density
filters can be used to allow the usage of very fast color or
black-and-white film. This apply the same for digital photography as
well which translate to the usage of low ISO setting.
-
Neutral density filters can be used to
effectively reduce the exposure required to a point within the range of
usable shutter speeds and f-stops.
-
Neutral density filters can be used to
allow usage of slow shutter speeds without over exposing the pictures
and producing result such as image blur.
-
Neutral density filters can be used to
allow the usage of large aperture under extreme bright situation and
enhancing the subject to background separation with shallow depth of
field.
-
Neutral density filters can also be used
to allow the use of a constant, preselected f-stop under changing
lighting.
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