In high light conditions, such as sunshine on snowy mountains or at the beach, or when using a video camera, ND (Neutral Density) filters are recommended as essential. Neutral filters, although often overlooked by photographers, have many uses and offer the ability to create results that would otherwise be impossible. ND filters reduce the amount of light reaching the camera and do not affect the color balance at all.

They have four main uses:

• To enable the use of slow shutter speeds to capture motion in subjects such as waterfalls, clouds, cars, seas, etc.
• To reduce the depth of field, allowing large apertures that help the subject stand out from the background.
• To decrease the ISO sensitivity of high-speed films (i.e., above ISO 400) and allow their use outdoors in very bright conditions.
• To allow cine cameras (which have fixed shutter speeds) to film subjects such as snow, sand, or other bright scenes that could cause overexposure.