Just in Case....

[wingflapp]

Just in case anyone here had a hankering to explain the term Neutral Density to someone without confusing them, here is your chance!



Example : I put a neutral density filter on my camera because it makes the......

Bestest Regards,

wing.

[gturner]

.... dude on the internet confused.

Basically it is a filter that changes the intensity all light equally. Ideal to use when you want to lessen exposure, without playing with your shutter or aperture.

Wiki is your friend here because I am do lazy to do your homework:

[IABoomer]

Think of the ND filter as sunglasses for your camera. Ideally, the filter is simply a dark gray and leaves no color cast on your images.

It's useful if, for example, you want to shoot with a wide aperture lens outside, but the sunlight is too bright to get a usable shutter speed. Or, you want to leave the shutter open for a long time in order to blur motion, like the somewhat-cliched smooth waterfall effect.

[NathanFranke]

...scary professional photographer man stop telling me that I need to use a neutral density filter.

Neutral: it doesn't change the color of the scene
Density: it lets less light through, requiring longer exposures/wider apertures/higher ISO.

[SwissJon]

.... image darker. It reduces the amount of light entering the camera without having to change the aperture. This, in turn, allows for longer exposures do you can get movement blur in your pictures without having to alter the depth of field. Or if you're shooting wide open to get a shallow depth of field, and the sun is out, so the maximum shutter speed of the camera is not enough to allow you to get a properly exposed picture.

Neutral indicates that it treats all colours equally, i.e. grey rather than of a particular colour.

[wingflapp]

Originally Posted by gturner

.... dude on the internet confused.

Basically it is a filter that changes the intensity all light equally. Ideal to use when you want to lessen exposure, without playing with your shutter or aperture.

Wiki is your friend here because I am do lazy to do your homework:

Thank you everyone for simplifying this for me. I am doing lots of homework. Hours of it per day. Literally. Sometimes I miss stuff, though.

Best Regards!

wing.

[mosgood]

Originally Posted by IABoomer

Think of the ND filter as sunglasses for your camera. Ideally, the filter is simply a dark gray and leaves no color cast on your images.

When I took film photography classes many years ago, this is how the instructor described the ND filters too.

It's a pretty good description, as it does knock back the amount of light entering the lens...some more than others.