Lacey Green Windmill

We took the kids to nearby Lacey Green Windmill on Monday. The weather was lovely and I knew if I was going to grab a nice picture I'd be battling with a very bright sky that contrasted with the black wood of the windmill. Camera's usually struggle in such situations because they're unable to record the same dynamic range as the human eye. I didn't want to take all the camera gear so I choose a wide lens and a graduated neutral density filter to sit on the front of it. The Neutral Density filter is shaded/tinted at the top to restrict light entering the lens and is perfect for taming really bright skies. They come in different strengths and I decided on quite a strong filter. So above you can see a very deep blue sky that has been brought under control by the filter. A slightly weaker filter would perhaps have given a more balanced image, but I do like the striking effect of the deep blue sky with the one I went with.