Many photographers are familiar with using a graduated neutral density (ND) filter for landscape scenes with a bright sky. The neutral gray across half the filter glass, which can be adjusted up or down to match the horizon line, helps balance the exposure between the sky and the foreground. I carry a 2-stop graduated Galen Rowell ND filter at all times. When used in this common situation, the dark portion of the filter is held over the upper portion of the lens, darkening the top of the frame. But there's a time when you need to turn that filter upside down, and that's in the snow. Sequoia Meadow, contrasty image While up in the Sequoia National Forest recently, I came upon a snow-covered meadow on a bright day. The fresh snow reflected the morning sun, and the first frame I took showed a poor result. Shot at 1/40 second at f/16 with a minus 1/3-stop compensation to expose correctly for the foreground snow, the forest in the background became far too dark and lost detail. No ND Filter You can see from the histogram that there are almost no middle tones and the tonal values peak on both shadows and highlights. Sequoia Meadow, balanced image So I pulled out my trusty ND filter. Aligning the dark portion of the glass with the white foreground balanced the image brightness and allowed detail to come out in the forest background. This is a much better, more pleasing photograph. With ND Filter You can see the difference in the histogram as well. The tones are more evenly distributed. I have a stronger peak in the shadow area, but it's well within limits. Shooting in contrasty situations like this is not ideal, but in this case the swath of sunlight is used to focus the eye on the foreground tree and lead into the background. Using the ND filter helped control the contrast. Both photos were shot with a Canon EOS 5D and 70-200mm lens at ISO 100, on a tripod of course.