Selective Filtering. Sometimes you only want to, uh, neutrally densitize (I know that’s not a word, but bear with me) part of an image. This usually involves darkening the bright sky in a landscape shot without blacking out the foreground. You can combine an underexposed and overexposed image in Photoshop, of course, but that can be time consuming. You can use an HDR program to do it for you, but you might want a more natural look. This split ND filter allows you to get the shot you want in-camera.

Two Stops of Light Reduction. The Tiffen 72mm Graduated 0.6 ND Filter is just the ticket, and should be in every landscape photographer’s bag. The edges of this filter darken the image two stops, decreasing the dynamic range between the sky and the foreground. A feathered line gives you a natural-appearing transition between this filter’s dense edges and its clear center. This filter doesn’t affect your image’s coloration.

High-Quality Build. Tiffen filters are made using ColorCore technology, a process that involves laminating the filter substrate between 2 pieces of optical glass, grinding flat to a tolerance of 1/10,000th of an inch, and then mounting to precision metal rings.