Just got back from a short little trip to the Rocky Mountains — Banff, specifically. It’s always refreshing to get back out to the mountains; I’m happy to live so close!
Although this wasn’t a photo-oriented excursion, I was hopeful I could get a few opportunities —- my lovely girlfriend had booked us on an evening excursion to the top of the Banff gondola —- but the weather wasn’t quite so accommodating.
Cross-polarisation effect
While I was up there though I gave my Fader ND filter another go. I had it with me on a previous trip to The Rockies but hadn’t really used it much. I thought with the evening shoot this time I might be able to get a long exposure of clouds over the mountains. Sadly not only the weather, but my gear as well conspired against me.
For one, I don’t think I have a dark enough ND filter to get the effect I want. For the other, either my variable filter is faulty or I’m just not using it right. I’ll have to practice with it more.
Apparently this cross vignette effect is a known issue when using variable ND filters at close to their maximum density — which of course I was trying to do. I’ll just have to keep that in mind I guess.