Filters for B/W film landscapes

I hope to do more blue sky/green grass+brown earth/rock landscapes.For filters I thought:
Orange for blue sky/white cloud separation.
If no cloud include little sky,use green filter for green grass,brown earth/rock separation.
For dull days use grad ND filter and increase contrast in printing.
Comment on choice of filters for landscape appreciated.

The question comes down to how much. The yellow - red series in increasing order of effect wratten # 8,12,15,23,25,29. All will darken a blue sky the difference being how much- the 8 is a "correction filter" which translates to a small darkening to compensate for over blue sensitivity in pan films so a sky renders "normally" . The deep yellows 12 and 15 offer moderate darkening while the reds 23, 25, 29 are for significant darkening. Along with darkening the sky they wil darken shadows as shadows are illuminated largely by the open blue sky.

Same with the greens. #11 is yellow green slightly darkening the sky and lightening the greens. The 58 is the strong effect.

The higher the wratten number (in each series) the sharper cut or the stronger the filter effect. The specific effect is similar to the filter factor. In other words a filter with a 2x factor will darken its compliment about a stop and lighten its color the same.

The reds will frequently work on clouds because they are illuminated by the blue sky above. A graduated ND filter will darken uniformly( on the dark side of the transition that is), that is not change contrast simply darken. Every .30 is a stop so .30 = 1 stop, .60 = 2 stops and so forth.

Much depends on the spectral sensitivity of the film you choose. They're all different, and the same filter will give different results on different films. Time of day also matters, as does subject matter. It's not a simple choice.

Orange filters definitely will separate clouds and sky. They also may turn grass and dark foliage almost black, depending on the situation and the film.

You may be better off with a polarizing filter in some circumstances than with a heavy orange or red filter.

Green filters can produce funny results with foliage, sometimes giving a "milky" look. You may be better off with a medium or heavy yellow filter. I frequently use a medium (#8 or equivalent) filter with black-and-white film in the landscape just to help cut the atmospheric blue light. I sometimes go to a heavier yellow (#12 or #15) if I want more drama and less general haze. I might go to an orange filter or red-orange (#21 or #23) for greater effect or to separate some close values a bit. I rarely go to a heavy red (#25) any more unless I'm really pushing for an effect or am faced with a whole lot of haze. Heavy filters increase contrast and grain, and can be deleterious to preserving shadow detail. It's a balancing act.

I have a good friend who travels and works in Europe a lot. He never uses a filter in the landscape. His images have wonderful hazy aerial perspective.

Pick one film, test it with several filters in varying conditions, take good notes.

Peter Gomena

IMO, a lot depends not only on the film choice, but the specific scene. Some scenes I shoot call for a polarizer (namely with water in the pic), some for red 25, some for red 29, grad ND, etc. A polarizer seems to be a happy medium and you can use it with color film as well.

If you really want those clouds to stand out, try a red 29 WITH the polarizer; black skies!

I usually pack several filters on my trips.

Yellow green, orange, red 25 and a polarizer. If you had to bail out and only had time to pick one, for me it would be the YG. Unless it was over the desert, and in that case would take the orange or red.

I find the yellow-green a nice all-round outdoor filter - I use a Hoya XO and a B&W 022 - as someone said, it slightly darkens the sky and lightens the foilage.

Thanks for the ideas.I realize not everyone does the same but will probably get a YG,that seems good for general use.
I thought I recalled that in the heyday of B/W there were varicolor orange/green filters each color taking half the filter.
Maybe it's possible to make such a filter from two slot-in colored grads.

I find myself using a grad-red on black and white landscapes where the horizon line permits a natural looking sky/land blend.

The grad-red needs no exposure compensation, the sky darkens, the clouds pop, and the grass, trees, and rocks in the bottom of the picture deliver their usual tonal relationships.

Thanks for the tips, I have ordered a grad Orange from ebay for the sky.
The Cokin P fit holders and filters are not expensive but I have cut down a holder to 2 slots to reduce vignetting with the 45mm wide angle lens on the Mamiya 645.

"Artistic expression" dominates here. How do you want it to look? The old rule of thumb was that a No. 8 filter gave values similar to what the eye sees with type B (ordinary) panchromatic film in daylight; a No. 11 did the same thing type C (high red sensitivity) film. For a lot of outdoor work, I like the No. 11, which lightens the greens a bit more than the No. 8. For southwest red rock an orange filter often helps. You can tell a lot by just looking at the scene through the filter. If you're not used to filters, you might try a form of bracketing. Photograph the scene through two or more filters that you think might give the desired effect; then choose the negative you like best.

I always think in terms of color when I shoot black & white. It's important to how the scene will eventually be rendered on paper.

A practical example. I love to photograph water. As we all know - where there's water there's life, and usually a lot of it. Plants are green predominantly. So in these types of landscapes I will often use a light green or dark green filter to accentuate those colors, and then you have to watch it, as the opposite color (red) will become very dark.
That's why sometimes when I use an orange or red filter, in a photograph where I include the sky, the sky will look great, while sometimes the landscape underneath the sky looks nowhere like how I had envisioned it. I really like the idea of 'Maris' above, with a graduated red filter.
I find that using filters can help in trying to picture in your mind how the final print will look. It gets me in a monochrome mood, and if I use and SLR or a view camera, I will often leave the filter on when I focus and set up the camera.

To me filters are about accentuating certain aspects of a scene. You may want to analyze it and figure out what's important about the scene, and base your filter selection on it. Remember the color filters will accentuate objects of similar color, and tone down objects of opposite color. I definitely use the green filter the most.

- Thomas

Maris said:

I find myself using a grad-red on black and white landscapes where the horizon line permits a natural looking sky/land blend.

Click to expand...

That's brilliant. I'll have to try that.

Where I live (New Mexico) we get a lot of the red sandstone, with and without the blueish desert varnish. I sometimes use a red enhansing or blue enhansing filter along with my chosen filter (#12,23,25,29, etc)