Why use a GND in the first place, why not just bracket and exposure blend?
This is an interesting topic of conversation these days in the landscape photography world. A lot comes down to personal preference. I prefer grads for several reasons. First off, I enjoy getting the exposure right at the time of capture, which usually saves a lot of time and headache later on while processing. Additionally, if using a digital camera, you can see the image right then and there on your LCD without having to flip back and forth between shots. For me, exposure blending comes with one major risk, if there is even the slightest bit of camera movement in between shots, successfully aligning the pictures during post processing becomes a risky proposition at best. I’d rather not take the chance if given a choice. Second, GND’s allow me to capture a greater amount of detail in clouds that I simply cannot seem to replicate by bracketing and blending alone. I am not sure why this is, but it is my personal experience. Take a look at the detail, light, and texture in the clouds in
