Black Card Photography Technique

The Magazine For Photographers
Dec 16, 2025
3 min read

What is the Black Card Photography Technique?

Black card photography is a technique that feels almost too simple once you understand it. The idea behind it is straightforward, instead of using an expensive graduated ND filter to balance the exposure between sky and foreground, you use a matte black card to manually control how much light hits different parts of the frame during the exposure.

If you think about it, it is basically dodging and burning, but done in-camera while the shutter is open.

If you have ever worked in/been in a darkroom and used dodge and burn tools, this will feel very familiar. The big difference is that instead of fixing exposure after the photo is taken, as mentioned, you are doing it in real time.

Why This Technique Exists

Even with modern sensors, cameras still struggle with scenes that have a big dynamic range, especially landscapes.

So for example some typical situation would be:

→ The foreground needs a long exposure to look right

→ The sky blows out way before the foreground is properly exposed

Of course you could use HDR, shoot brackets or blend exposures later, however that means more time in front of a screen and less time actually shooting.

The black card technique tries to tackle that and lets you,

→ Capture a more balanced exposure in a single frame

→ Reduce the need for heavy editing later

→ Avoid carrying (and especially buying) multiple graduated filters

What You Need

You really don’t need much:

A camera with manual controls
A sturdy tripod (We are doing long exposures after all)
A neutral density filter (commonly 6–10 stops)
A matte black card large enough to fully cover the front of your lens

That is it.

How the Black Card Works

The black card is used to block light from the brightest part of the scene, usually the sky, for part of the exposure. So, you are not blocking the entire frame, only the area that would otherwise overexpose.

The key idea is that the foreground needs a long exposure while the sky needs a much shorter one

→ So you expose for the foreground first, while temporarily shielding the sky. Then you remove the card and let the sky expose for the remaining time.