Digital Blending

This subject is featured in Issue #6 ofThe Luminous Landscape Video Journal. 
The Problem Being Solved
In nature when doing landscape work that includes sky, especially early or late in the day, the contrast range encountered often exceeds that which film or imaging chips can handle. It's therefore necessary to find a way to reduce the contrast range to something that the camera can handle so that the highlights don't burn out and the shadow areas don't turn inky black.
The Traditional Approach
The traditional method of dealing with this is to use split neutral density filters (graduated filters, some call them).
This works well much of the time, and I have rarely gone out shooting without my full filter kit at the ready. 1 stop, 2 stop and 3 stop grads, and soft and hard edged versions of each. Add filter holders and adaptor rings and the whole kit can cost over a thousand dollars and fills a small shoulder bag.
An additional downside is that using them takes time. Deciding whic...