- Joined
- Jul 14, 2011
- Messages
- 14,232
- Format
- 8x10 Format
Filters? Under a blue sky, shadows are blue. Manet, Monet, and all the Impressionists knew that. If you use a yellow filter, it will slightly darken any nooks and crannies in the snow, no matter how tiny, and give more lifelike texture to the scene. An orange filter will do it to a stronger degree, and a red one, even more. But under flat overcast lighting, or when it's snowing, contrast filters won't have the same effect at all. That's when you need to understand the value of "plus" developing, developing the film a little longer to achieve greater expansion of the highlights, just like Doremus mentioned. I don't give a damn if you call it the Zone System or a Blue Goose; it works.
What doesn't work so well in classic ZS theory is contraction or minus-development, or compensating development, to rein in too long a scene contrast range. That will flatten the sparkle and mico-texture. So in high-contrast snow scenes it's best to use a film with a long straight line to begin with, like TMax 100 or 400, while FP4 or Delta 100 would be distant second choices, but also relatively good. Foma 200 has an exceptionally long scale, but also certain idiosyncrasies.
What doesn't work so well in classic ZS theory is contraction or minus-development, or compensating development, to rein in too long a scene contrast range. That will flatten the sparkle and mico-texture. So in high-contrast snow scenes it's best to use a film with a long straight line to begin with, like TMax 100 or 400, while FP4 or Delta 100 would be distant second choices, but also relatively good. Foma 200 has an exceptionally long scale, but also certain idiosyncrasies.
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