Diffusion for MF nature photography

anthonylg · Jul 12, 2017

Hello,

Did some of you try to photograph nature and landscapes with diffusion filters? Like Pro-mist, black diffusion etc... or even low con filters ?

I know that many people always want more sharpness, but I find the opposite way sometimes interesting, trying to remove some details, blur limits between two elements etc...

So I'm interested in your opinion or if you have any examples

Paul Howell · Jul 12, 2017

I have used a diffusion filter to shoot moving water, waterfalls and ocean waves.

chassis · Jul 12, 2017

Flowers are often photographed with soft focus lenses in multiple formats.

For an introduction, try using normal lenses wide open. This puts most things out of focus and is a middle ground between ultra sharp and true soft (diffused) focus.

RichardJack · Jul 12, 2017

I've gotten some nice results using Tiffen "Fog" and "Sand diffusion" screens. I also have a set of Cokin filters that can be stacked. The gradient color filters (browns) are very nice.
I agree with the suggestion of using your lenses wide open, you might need a few ND filters for that.

anthonylg · Jul 12, 2017

Thank you guys for your answers.

Paul, would you have any example to show me? That would be great.

Chassis, this is not what I'm looking for, i'm really looking for something over the whole image. There's other possibilities like moving slightly the tripod during the exposure, stockings, vaseline etc... but I'm very curious about the effect of some filters : )

Paul Howell · Jul 12, 2017

Sorry, my scanner is very old and will work with my current version of windows 10, on my list to upgrade. s

M Carter · Jul 12, 2017

Somehwere on Vimeo (and on a web page) is an extensive... extennnnnssssivvvve... test of the common cinema filters, which include the promists and so on. You'd have to google around to find it, but very interesting.

You really might consider or visualize what sort of look you're after - the black nets soften without much halation, as do any "black" filters; normal promists and so on add some haze. Then there's the warm promists, and the hasselblad resin filters, and the cokins... there's more diffusion out there than you could test in a year.

Interesting fact - the first Iron Man movie was shot almost entirely with a 1/4 black Pro Mist, but you don't think of it as a "diffused" "Remains of the day" look...

anthonylg · Jul 12, 2017

Don't worry Paul, it was very already nice from you to answer.

Yes M carter, the 30 minutes long video made by tiffen. As you said, it's loooooog. I like halation when it's stays minimum, I'm almost sure I'd like the pro mist, certainly 1/8 to 1/2 but I have no place around that rent them and they are quite expensive to buy...

The Pro Mist and Black Pro Mist are very often used in the film industry. Kurbick was also known to shoot his films with low con filters, creating the same kind of halation on the props and this dreamy look.

Sirius Glass · Jul 12, 2017

Photographing wildlife, no. I could use a diffusion filter for landscapes, but I never have.

M Carter · Jul 13, 2017

anthonylg said:
Don't worry Paul, it was very already nice from you to answer.

Yes M carter, the 30 minutes long video made by tiffen. As you said, it's loooooog. I like halation when it's stays minimum, I'm almost sure I'd like the pro mist, certainly 1/8 to 1/2 but I have no place around that rent them and they are quite expensive to buy...

The Pro Mist and Black Pro Mist are very often used in the film industry. Kurbick was also known to shoot his films with low con filters, creating the same kind of halation on the props and this dreamy look.

I don't think the one I'm referring to was made by Tiffen, it was just some DP experimenting, but it had models, xmas lights, candles, to show hot spots and skin tones. Here's one I found today, not the one I'm thinking of but there are many out there.

As for pro mist prices - they do sell them in round screw-in filters (I generally do the matte box with 4x4's, PRICEY!!! But poke around on eBay). Tiffen has come up with some new models recently geared towards softening HD and 4K video footage, and then there's the "smoke" line which is probably halation city!

I remember in my commercial E6 days, when everyone was making "Turbofilters" out of cardboard and plywood and springs and rubber bands... we'd grab the clear plastic sheets 4x5 film came back from the lab in - a plain sheet was the basic filter, and then "how much you rubbed it on your forehead or nose" gave you deeper grades. I did a lot of work with a 1/8" plywood "turbofilter" with two windows and 4x5 protector sheets with nose grease! You could even make motion-blur filters if you took care with whcih way you wiped the sleeve across your forehead... ahh, the old days...

Diffusion for MF nature photography

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