 Andrew Laverghetta |
black and white contrast filters Hi! I've got some questions about using colored (red, green, blue, yellow etc) filters when exposing the film to darken or lighten different colors. I've been reading Ansel Adams' autobiography and I'm reading the Monolith chapter. Specifically when he talks about making Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, 1927. He says how he made the exposure using "a conventional K2 yellow filter, to slightly darken the sky." There's a photo of the finished product after the yellow filter but then he said that he really wanted to darken the sky so he used "a Wratten #29(F)" which I believe is red. I believe he mentions "deep red" at some point. The result is amazing, but I'm not sure how he gets the exposure or what he might have done to darken the sky so much. I'm using a 35mm Canon EOS SLR and I have a Hoya Red (25A) filter that I've used a few times to try to get a photo with similar darkness in the sky but I can't get it. On the filter case it has a bright building before and after. The after shot has a very dark sky with the bright white clouds. The sky is about as dark as in Adams' 'Monolith.' Though, the before is even darker than when he used the yellow filter for his print. What am I supposed to meter off of to get such a dark sky? Does the sky already have to be somewhat dark? I have a scanned print in my gallery that I would like to have checked out if that might help. I believe I made this exposure at f/8 in aperture priority with the hoya red filter attached with my f/1.8 50mm lens. The photo is called Old Greek House because it was either a fraternity or sorority that has been shut down for one reason or another. Thanks for any help you can give me! -Andrew
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Jon Close |
#29 is a deeper red than #25 (and about 1 stop darker), so the effect is greater. Is this the "Old Greek House"? I think the #25 filter effect can be seen - darkening the green vines and the blue sky to the right, lightening the red bricks. The sky to the left is washed out simply because it is close to the sun and was probably near white any way. Re exposure - normal TTL metering should give you a good negative. If you spot meter, whatever you meter off of will be exposed as medium gray. Apply exposure compensation if you want that element to be lighter or darker. Also note that Ansel did most of his work in printing - dodging and burning different areas of the scene. The contrasts in the final print are not necessarily the same as captured in the negative.
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