In this article, I share everything you need to know about ND filters, including basic instructions, specific gear recommendations, plus some helpful advice along the way.

That’s where ND filters come in. You can use your ND filter to block the light, which in turn allows for beautiful long exposures of landscapes.

Neutral density filters block light evenly across the frame. Graduated neutral density filters, on the other hand, block light across just part of the frame. Half the filter is clear, half is opaque, and you get a graduated area in between.

In other words, a neutral density filter is a dark piece of glass that goes in front of (or behind, in some special circumstances) your lens.

How do you plan to use your neutral density filters? Which filters do you plan to buy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Different neutral density filters offer different levels of light-blocking power, generally measured in stops of light. Typical ND filter strengths are one stop (written as “0.3” or “ND2”), two stops (written as “0.6” or “ND4”), three stops (written as “0.9” or “ND8”), six stops (written as “1.8” or “ND64”) and ten stops (written as “3.0” or “ND1024”).

The photo below shows a two-stop graduated neutral density filter in a square filter holder. The top half of the filter is dark (to block light) and the bottom is clear:

In fact, I’d say that this function – for long exposures in the landscape – is probably the most common reason to see an ND filter on a photographer’s lens.

Unfortunately, when the light is strong, a wide aperture will let in too much light, resulting in overexposure. So the blur-happy photographer is either forced to wait until the light dies down, or must use a narrow aperture and sacrifice their beautiful wide-aperture backgrounds.

And hopefully, now that you’ve read this article, you love them, too! So buy an ND filter or two. Start practicing. And take some amazing shots!

Using neutral density filtersfor photography

Light travels following a wavelike path. Water waves on a pond travel in a similar manor however, water waves undulate up/down whereas light waves freely vibrate in every possible plane. Such light wave behavior is said to be un-polarized. When light waves are reflected from some surfaces, they often become polarized. Polarized light wave vibrate however the direction of their undulation is altered.

ND filter calculator

This being the case, when photographing objects behind glass, we can mitigate impairing reflections by mounting a polarizing filter and rotating it so that annoying reflections are rejected.

You can suppress reflections on glass fronts pretty well if they result in polarised light. That tends to be the case completely when the reflection on the glass surface occurs at "Brewster's angle", an oblique angle. So roughly speaking you need to shoot "half sideways" at the glass reflection for best effect.

Just choose a relatively weak ND filter (in the one-stop to three-stop range). Mount it in front of your lens. And take photos the way you normally would, except with greater latitude when choosing the aperture.

Using neutral density filtersfor beginners

Yes. Here's an example image with very similar conditions to the post you linked to. In this case they are using a circular polarizing filter:

Using neutral density filtersnikon

Ultimately, you have to decide how much you want to spend (some ND filters are quite expensive!), then look at the options. But I can start by telling you which filters I own and recommend.

As you’ve probably gathered, neutral density filters are especially useful for portrait photography, especially portraits done in bright sunlight. They’re also highly useful for landscape photography – if your goal is to blur a moving subject, an ND filter can probably make it happen.

How many stops ND filter for video

But I wanted blur in the water, so I added an ND filter and turned that exposure time into a whopping 210 seconds. Here’s the resulting shot:

As you may be aware, wide apertures create beautiful blurry background bokeh that makes the subject pop off the page (portrait photographers love this!).

Using neutral density filterspdf

If you still can’t get the aperture you’re after, then you can always swap out your original ND filter for a stronger option.

However, you can certainly use ND filters in other scenarios. For instance, an architectural photographer might want to blur the clouds when photographing buildings or even home exteriors. An abstract photographer might want to blur water when photographing on the beach. And a videographer might want to keep their aperture wide while filming in the sun.

Light reflected from non-conductive surfaces such as glass undulate mainly in one plane. When first studied, scientist falsely concluded that light waves must have a north and south pole, like a magnet. While false, the term polarized and un-polarized stuck. When light rays are reflected from the polished surface of glass windows and showcases, it will likely be polarized. Polarizing filters pass light waves that vibrate in a single plane and block light waves that vibrate in opposing planes. Consider a jump rope passed through a fence with a missing picket. The jump rope when plucked only vibrate up/down and not side-to-side.

Make sure you’ve mounted your camera to a tripod (you don’t want to end up with any camera shake!). Then trigger the shutter using a remote release or your camera’s self-timer function.

When to use an ND filter for video

You see, I use an ND filter kit, the circular Formatt Hitech 72mm Firecrest Joel Tjintjelaar Signature Edition Long Exposure Kit. It contains three neutral density filters, with strengths of 3, 6, and 10 stops.

CPL filters do not differ in their photographic properties from linear polarisers; they are merely friendlier to metering and autofocus. But in essence they are just linear polarisers with a quarterwave plane behind them that converts the passing linearly polarised light to circularly polarised light which some parts of a camera are better equipped to deal with.

A neutral density filter blocks light, which is why it’s sometimes referred to as sunglasses for your lens. The result? Less light passes through the lens to reach the camera’s sensor.

I wonder if the same polarizer filters we use for making the underwater look clear instead of the sky reflections blurring the water can be used for that situation.

It’ll fit over the lens and block out some of the bright light. That way, you can use a wide aperture to achieve your desired blur effect without overexposing the shot.

Well, as it turns out, more light is good…most of the time. Occasionally, though, you’ll find that you have too much light to work with, which is where ND filters come in handy.

Just make sure to watch the light carefully. If the sun goes behind clouds, you may need to take the filter off the front of your lens to get the shots you want.

Neutral densityfilter chart

But to create a long exposure, you generally need a shutter speed of a second or longer, which is pretty much impossible to do in the middle of the day without dramatic overexposure.

As mentioned above, it’s tough to see through a powerful ND filter. So you’ll need to identify your composition and set your point of focus before adding the filter. (You may also want to determine the proper exposure prior to adding the filter, then adjust the shutter speed to compensate once you’ve added the filter to your lens).

Note: If you plan to use your filters on multiple lenses, buy the filter size you need for the largest lens, and get step-down rings to adapt the filters to fit the smaller lenses – or get a square drop-in filter kit instead.

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Polarisers can be rotated. It's worth pointing out that you can also use them for increasing the visibility of reflections by rotating them such that the polarised reflection passes through the filter completely while non-polarised light gets reduced by half in comparison.

GND filters are designed to handle uneven exposures. If you’re photographing a sunset with a bright sky and a dark foreground, the darker portion of the GND filter will dial back the sunset, while the lighter portion will do nothing. That way, you get a well-exposed sky and a well-exposed foreground in the same photo. Make sense?

ND filters block light, yet photographers generally want more light, not less. So why should you consider using an ND filter?

Note that the higher the ND filter strength, the more light that gets blocked. So an ND2 filter, which blocks one stop of light, pales in comparison to an ND64 filter and its six-stop light-blocking capabilities.

The photo below shows a ten stop neutral density filter mounted on the front of a lens. As you can see, the filter is nearly opaque; once it’s added to your setup, you won’t be able to see through the camera viewfinder.

Some manufacturers even make neutral density filters that block 16 stops of light or more, although these are specialty items and infrequently used by the average photographer (professional or otherwise).

So if you want to know how to use a neutral density filter, when to use an ND filter, or why to use an ND filter, you’ve come to the right place.

is a writer, photographer, traveler and workshop leader. He’s an experienced teacher who enjoys helping people learn about photography and Lightroom. Join his free Introducing Lightroom course or download his free Composition PhotoTips Cards!

Using an ND filter to capture slow-shutter landscape photos can take careful technique, especially if you’re using a strong filter (e.g., 10 stops or 16 stops).

Shown in The Mighty Circular Polarizing Filter Explained in Pictures which also explains the theory behind polarizing filters.

So is it possible to get rid of these glass reflections by using polarizers? Is there a difference between regular polarizers that if what i heard is correct change the picture as you tilt the camera (just like how twisting polarized sunglasses makes the digital displays go black) and the circular polarizers when it comes to this?

In general, graduated filters are used by landscape photographers to deal with tricky sky-foreground lighting conditions. And unlike neutral density filters, their purpose isn’t to slow down the shutter speed or widen the aperture – instead, it’s simply about blocking out a too-powerful sky.