Custon "Shaped" ND Grad

Good morning,

New here and amazed by all the info, great site! Kudos to you all.

I'm just getting back into film, 35mm for now, and doing my best to figure out how to do everything I can at the camera.

I've been experimenting with Split Density ND grad, Cokin P size, a bit and this has gotten me wondering if there were either:

1. Custom shaped filters already, like a "V'" for mountain valleys, inverted an "V or U" for peaks and for people set against a sunset, or a split reverse with a break for a vertical subject in the forground that I'm painting with light.

or better yet ...

2. A way to make these filters myself.

Not that I have a big enough tool to do this right this moment, but, on the latter idea, I was thinking that maybe a piece of B&W film could be exposed and developed into various graduated shapes fairly inexpensively. These could then be used just like "gels". They could even be designed to vignette or to deal with hot spots like the sky in AZ's slot canyons.

Anybody know about or tried either option?

Sometimes it is good just to write things down to work through them.

I came up with a way to do this, I can design them in PS and then have them printed as a transparency.

Still wondering if others have tried this.

That's a very interesting idea--designing the ND filters in a PS-type program and printing them. The only problem I see is finding a substrate that is so optically clear that it will not degrade the image. Once you scratch a plastic or resin or gel filter, any image exposed through the filter is degraded. I use gel filters, and they are all somewhat scratched (nothing is perfect), so in theory my images are degraded. But in the final print, I don't notice this degradation.

The biggest problem with designing a custom shaped filter is that you would first have to photograph the scene to be able to determine exactly how to manufacture or design the filter profile. Then you would have to return and photograph the same exact scene, under the same exact lighting conditions. If I understand this correctly.

I occasionally use the Lee graduated ND filters, and move and rotate them as necessary to darken the excessive bright areas.

A better way is to consider making a mask for printing. Search for contrast masking on this site.

You can use multiple filters and so forth to get all manner of effects like gradient wedges and such. The most flexible and easy way to do this is to use square grad filters with sliding mounts, which can be stacked and rotated to get whatever you want. A noted practitioner of this craft was Galen Rowell, and you can read up on his methods. He was very fast with his filters, consider that many of his scenes held together for a few minutes at most!

If you're going the digital route, why not just do an HDR merge and apply the filtration electronically.

Anyone ever hear of the Dykinga dodge?

Yup. You can of course make all manner of bizarre dodge screens for print time.

resummerfield said:

The only problem I see is finding a substrate that is so optically clear that it will not degrade the image. Once you scratch a plastic or resin or gel filter, any image exposed through the filter is degraded.

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Theoretically they wouldn't be too expensive especially if something off the shelf like slide media for overhead projectors could be used. If so if it gets torn up you would just print another.

resummerfield said:

The biggest problem with designing a custom shaped filter is that you would first have to photograph the scene to be able to determine exactly how to manufacture or design the filter profile. Then you would have to return and photograph the same exact scene, under the same exact lighting conditions. If I understand this correctly.

Click to expand...

Actually not, You'd just carry a mixed set of the filters and put the one that "fit the scene" in front of the lens as you shot just like a lee or cokin only floppier.

Living in Colorado a "V" for mountain valleys would be a "normal" choice. A split ND grad with a "U" shape would be a normal beach portrait choice. Rightside up during the day, upside down at sunset.

resummerfield said:

I occasionally use the Lee graduated ND filters, and move and rotate them as necessary to darken the excessive bright areas.

Click to expand...

Playing with that idea too.

resummerfield said:

A better way is to consider making a mask for printing. Search for contrast masking on this site.

Click to expand...

I will, thanks for giving me the words to search for.

keithwms said:

Yup. You can of course make all manner of bizarre dodge screens for print time.

Click to expand...

Don't have a darkroom yet, so that's a ways off yet.

I'm trying to do as much work at the camera as I can for now.

Robert Hall said:

Anyone ever hear of the Dykinga dodge?

Click to expand...

In a word, no. Got any links to examples?