Black Mist on a Mountain

Brought my camera along on a hike to try out a 1/8 black mist diffusion filter for the first time! Straight out of camera, the images most noticeably had some halation off direct light sources and softened lens flare that reminded me of some vintage lenses I've used. (And a bit of when I try to clean a smudge off my glasses but end up making it worse.)

The general effect the filter has on my photos is a layer of relatively subtle character–or vibe, really–which I like, as it leaves me some headroom for other stylistic choices. I was able to massage the photos quite a bit in post to get them to look the way I imagined, and I could still probably eke out a bit more drama from them if I want.

I figure one of the stronger filters would've imparted more of an in-your-face aesthetic to the raw images, but ultimately, I'm pretty satisfied with the flexibility the 1/8 gives me to work with.