Graduated ND Filter Effect in Photoshop

[kencaleno]

Do it the easy way-you just need a single jpeg image:

Graduated Neutral Density Filter effect

Add adjustment layer> levels
Drag right slider to left
Drag middle slider to left (These moves enable you to get the foreground how you want it)
Press “D” or "X" to make foreground color black
Press “G” for gradient
Choose linear gradient -black to transparent-2nd icon from left
Drag cursor from top of image down to horizon
flatten/save

[rpcrowe]

Thank you very much for posting this technique. It works great and can save some images which would normally be trashed...

[Mnaff]

Originally Posted by charb_311

nice work i'm going to do that as soon as i figure out how to convert them into a raw file thank you for all the great tutorials.

you take the photo in a raw format. its in the settings on your camera most times (i am unsure about point and shoot cameras) i have the rebel xti and in the settings where it asks Large Medium or Small file size there should also be a raw + Large, Raw + Medium and Raw + Small

or just plain Raw.

your computer will not be able to view a raw image so you'll have to open it in photoshop. you should be able to preview it when you are looking at the raw photos when you open them in photoshop.

it will ask you to set the exposure and stuff before you convert it from raw to jpeg.

[ckodonne]

I always do this kind of processing with RAW format, not jpeg. You lose so much information with jpeg adjustments. Editing in RAW gives you the most flexibility, and you can adjust the exposure of a single +/- 2 or even 3 stops. Try that with jpeg and the result will be far poorer.

Great tips, glad someone put this into writing. I actually prefer this method to using a ND grad filter because of the flexibility of blending the exposures.