Faking ND Filter in Premiere

[GL2guy]

Okay... I have my source landscape clip, with blue sky sitting in top half of shot.

I put that in Video Track 1.

Then I make a black video clip and place it in Track 2.

I apply a Ramp (blck->white from top to bottom) to track 2.

Then I go to the landscape clip in Track 1 and apply Calculations effect to it. I set the "Second Source 2nd Layer" to Video 2 and set "Second Layer Opacity" to 100%.

I then set the blending mode to 'Overlay'.

PROBLEM:
This works correctly for the top half of the gradient/landscape, but the bottom half where the ramp turns to white is lightening the ground.

So it is effectively darkening the sky like I want, but it is brightening the ground. Why does it brighten the ground? It shouldn't. I know it doesn't do that in Photoshop at least. Shouldn't white in the ramp turn to transparent? If not, how can I make it so the white in the ramp is transparent on the final shot?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Neil Rowe]

just create a gradient in photoshop from your color choice to transparent, and place it on the layer above the video layer that you want to put an ND GRAD onto then you can use the cc composite effect (or other comprable effect) to change the blending mode of your photoshop grad along with adjusting its opacity to your liking for the desired reults.

this is a useful way of doing things because you can just colorize your gradient in PS and then save a variety of files as template grads to use at any time in the future. it would be best to create them at 1080p or the max res you work at, and just size them down in the editor to fit smaller projects.