Early in the fall I took a trip to Maine. It gave me a chance to use neutral density filters in a more serious way for landscape photography. I am always looking for new ways to expand my creativity, and being able to shoot 15-30 second exposures in the middle of the day definitely does that. Of course neutral density filters can be a pain to use, especially when trying to focus, but they can also make your photos stand out from the crowd.
For this photograph, I shot the Bass Head lighthouse about 45 minutes before sunset. There was already a horde of other eager photographers just sitting and waiting for the sun to drop. Being too impatient to wait, I began shooting anyway and this image is the result of two shots merged to get a more even exposure. You can also see the effects of using a neutral density filter by how the clouds begin to streak across the sky.
Ian