 BetterPhoto Member |
Black & White Filters I enjoy shooting black and white nature photos. I have yellow, orange and red filters and I understand that they are supposed to increase contrast. Unfortunately, when I try to use them I don't get the results I hope for. The photos often come out too dark; dim is perhaps a better description. I think I'm not adjusting the f-stop as I should but I can't be sure. I've tried to find a simple description of how to use the filters but haven't had any luck so far. Can you help me?
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
First of all, the filters don't necessarily increase contrast. An increase in contrast is often a consequence of using the filters. A lot of it depends upon the colors in your scene. B&W film is more sensitive to blue than any other color. That's why skies often come out white in b&w photos. Filters filter out the color opposite them on the color wheel. Red filters out blue. So using a red filter will make blue skies dark and will make red objects appear white. An orange filter will do the same but to a lesser degree and a yellow even less. If you are metering through the filter you need not adjust the exposure. If you are not metering through the filter then you need to compensate based upon what the manufacturer suggests for each filter. Most red filters require a 3 stop compensation, orange 2, and yellow 1 or 1/2.
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John A. Lind |
Eric, To amplify a little on what Jeff has already provided: (a) Filter factors are often printed on the side of the filter ring (only needs to be used if you're not metering through it). (b) Think of B/W filters as providing some amount of "color separation" by shifting the shade of gray a color (or color range) will render. As Jeff mentions, the traditional yellow, orange and red, provide increasing separation of white cloud against blue sky, but only because it is filtering out increasing levels of blue. Two other filters to consider are the green and the blue (not used very often). The green is often used to provide greater separation among foliage to gain more detail level with it. In this respect it's more useful during the mid to late summer with mature foliage. Modern panchromatic films have a more even response across the color spectrum than the very old orthochromatic films did, which had a much higher blue response (it's why skies are very washed out in very old photographs). A blue filter can be used to emulate the ortho effect and by increase blue response of a panchromatic film. -- John
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