The first set of filters I bought was a trio of neutral-density graduated filters made by Cokin. They were fairly basic, each filter made of lightweight plastic, and they scratched within seconds. For a fresh-faced photographer armed with a new DSLR, these filters might not have been the most exciting purchase, but the magic of seeing a balanced exposure appear on the LCD was transformative.
Exposure blending, colour grading and creative preset application in software are extremely powerful processes, but there’s always a feeling that your images are, quite literally, in pieces. The preview images you see on your camera screen aren’t even close to being finished. This is, of course, an expected part of the raw workflow, but it’s a unique skill to be able to judge an image’s…