Filters on lens recommendation.

marciofs · Aug 10, 2013

What filter colour would you suggest to use when photographing close up green leaf and brown dry leaf on black and white negative?

I mean... Does Yellow or orange gives good results on green leaf? Does red filter gives good results with brown dry leaf?

I have Yellow, green, Orange, Blue and Red filters and I am avoiding spend money buying more filter.

Chris Lange · Aug 10, 2013

try an exposure with each and see what you prefer!

ic-racer · Aug 10, 2013

I look through the filters. The best results will come through experimentation; since it is a still life, and you already have the filters, expose the scene through each filter and see which gives the best print.

jeffreyg · Aug 10, 2013

Red and orange will yield a "darker " green leaf, yellow probably a slightly "lighter" green leaf since some yellow filters are yellow-green, green would give you a "lighter" green leaf . Check to see what yours is. The red and orange will probably have the opposite effect on the brown leaf. Try all as suggested as well as no filter which may turn out the best. Generally I would use a blue filter if I wanted to accentuate fog in a landscape under foggy conditions. Most of the time red, orange and yellow would be used to "darken" the blue of the sky and bring out the contrast of clouds against the sky. You might also consider orange to increase contrast in a landscape and green to lighten up green in a landscape. Some will use filters such as red to lighten a ruddy complexion or for a rather white skin for Caucasian subjects.

Remember that in B&W you are dealing with values and the brown and green leaf could actually have the same value and with no filter come out in similar shades of gray so using a filter might be necessary for your purpose.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

marciofs · Aug 10, 2013

Chris Lange said:
try an exposure with each and see what you prefer!

This is what I usually do when trying a new object texture. But I thought somebody might have done it before and could tell their experience.

It seems I will have to try myself.

Thanks all for the tips.

cliveh · Aug 10, 2013

marciofs said:
Does red filter gives good results with brown dry leaf?

That depends on what you mean by good, as we can't tell what you are trying to achieve. Chris Lange gave you some good advice, as it is up to you.

ChuckP · Aug 11, 2013

The filter choice might be different depending on the picture. If you have a green leaf on a dark background you might want to lighten it. But against a light background you might want to darken it.

f/16 · Aug 14, 2013

If you have a digital camera that has B&W mode, you could put the filter on the digicam and shoot to see what it looks like. It probably won't look exactly as with B&W film, but it will give you an idea. That's what I do sometimes. I'll shoot something with a digital and see what looks best before burning expensive film(I send it out for processing and it's $$$$).

Tom1956 · Aug 14, 2013

f/16 said:
If you have a digital camera that has B&W mode, you could put the filter on the digicam and shoot to see what it looks like. It probably won't look exactly as with B&W film, but it will give you an idea. That's what I do sometimes. I'll shoot something with a digital and see what looks best before burning expensive film(I send it out for processing and it's $$$$).

Harummph! That's what 35mm is for. Do your experimenting on 35, then use your normal camera. Digital schmital. Digital cameras are for people who shoot porn to keep from embarrassing themselves when they go to pick up their developed pictures.

Bill Burk · Aug 14, 2013

Haaa, I'll give you the answer.... Green. My favorite filter for close-ups of green things.

Really you have good answers, try what you have and pick your favorite. It might be different than mine.

But at least once you must get down on the ground and look sideways and up at green plants through a green filter.

MatthewDunn · Aug 14, 2013

I'm sure this is well documented but as someone who is also learning about the effect of different filters on B&W work, I found the relevant discussion in AA's "The Negative" to be super helpful. Very comprehensive discussion with plenty of visual examples so that you can see (more or less) how each major filter works. Again, very new to this, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

marciofs · Aug 14, 2013

I once tried to make filters tests with digital camera and it didn't look close compared with the film results. At least not with my camera.

I still didn't find a time to do it this week and next week I will be busy too. But thanks for the tips.

I post the result here when I have them in case someone in the future look for the same info.

By the way. Does anyone know a good and affordable black and white film that has less than 36 exposures? Because 36 exposure for test are often too many.

Poisson Du Jour · Aug 14, 2013

Yes 36 exposures are way too many! You've got company there!
When you find a film with less than 36 bangs to a roll, please do let me know...
( Then again, there's always the very agreeable 10-12 exposures afforded by medium format...)

f/16 · Aug 14, 2013

Poisson Du Jour said:
Yes 36 exposures are way too many! You've got company there!
When you find a film with less than 36 bangs to a roll, please do let me know...
( Then again, there's always the very agreeable 10-12 exposures afforded by medium format...)

A few weeks ago I was passing by a camera store and stopped in. They had Delta 100 24exp for half the price of 36, so I picked up 2 rolls.

MattKing · Aug 14, 2013

marciofs said:
By the way. Does anyone know a good and affordable black and white film that has less than 36 exposures? Because 36 exposure for test are often too many.

This is one of my favourite things about bulk loading your own 35mm - you can choose the length you want to shoot.

John Koehrer · Aug 14, 2013

RE: shorter rolls.
Freestyle in the US has 24 and 36 exposure rolls of several films. They're all either european, asian or british so should be available to you.

marciofs · Aug 16, 2013

MattKing said:
This is one of my favourite things about bulk loading your own 35mm - you can choose the length you want to shoot.

How do you do it?

pentaxuser · Aug 16, 2013

Buy a bulk loader and a bulk film with re-usable cassettes or use manufacturers' film cassettes that have been used and attach end of bulk film to the 2-3 cms that remain when a film has been cut off. When you open the bulk loader it is more or less self explanatory as to how you load it but instructions with the loader are usually provided.

Do a search here on bulk loaders Plenty of posts on different loaders and their merits or faults.

If I can bulk load then anybody can bulk load

pentaxuser

Tom1956 · Aug 16, 2013

I've been using a Lloyd's I bought new at Ritz Camera in 1972 for 5.95. Works just fine. I believe a 100 feet of PX or TX was maybe 15 dollars back then. Maybe $17--it was EXPENSIVE!

E. von Hoegh · Aug 16, 2013

marciofs said:
What filter colour would you suggest to use when photographing close up green leaf and brown dry leaf on black and white negative?

I mean... Does Yellow or orange gives good results on green leaf? Does red filter gives good results with brown dry leaf?

I have Yellow, green, Orange, Blue and Red filters and I am avoiding spend money buying more filter.

Here's what I did when I was in your position.
I got a set of filters, and a color wheel. Filters on B&W will lighten like colors, and darken opposite colors. Try different filters, using the color wheel to get an idea what they will do and take notes of the filter and the exposure you used for each picture. Then, when you have your prints, you can decide which filters you like in which situations.
The general rule is to use the lightest i.e. least dense filter which gives the desired effect. Giving more exposure will slightly lessen the effect, less exposure will slightly accentuate the effect.
Again, keep accurate notes of the filter used and the compensation applied.

Rick A · Aug 16, 2013

marciofs said:
By the way. Does anyone know a good and affordable black and white film that has less than 36 exposures? Because 36 exposure for test are often too many.

Buy bulk and spool any length you want. I keep a bulk roll of Fomapan 100 for quicky projects, I don't shoot enough 35mm to buy 24 or 36 exposure rolls.

marciofs · Aug 19, 2013

May it is not a good test but here it is:

I actually like the oranfe filter the best.

It was shot with Ilford Delta 100.

PS: How many frames can I load in a 35mm capsule? I wonder if I can use it for travel loadinh the maximum I can

GRHazelton · Aug 19, 2013

marciofs said:
May it is not a good test but here it is:

View attachment 73182

I actually like the oranfe filter the best.

It was shot with Ilford Delta 100.

PS: How many frames can I load in a 35mm capsule? I wonder if I can use it for travel loadinh the maximum I can

You could probably get 40 exposures BUT at the risk of damaging the film. Why run the risk?

Poisson Du Jour · Aug 20, 2013

Kodachrome Professional 36 exposure rolls often had 38-39 exposures on them. Slides in my collection have numbers of 36, 37, 38 and 39.

George Collier · Aug 20, 2013

Back to the filter question, always remember that filters don't lighten their own color, they hold back (thinner on the neg, darker on the print) other colors, holding back their opposite (or complementary) colors the most. Objects of their own color remain relatively unaffected. It's the application of the filter factor, increasing exposure, that make it's own color objects heavier on the negative, or lighter on the print, depending on how you decide to print.
It makes sense to me that the orange worked well for Marcio, as it has some yellow, related to green, so, not too extreme, but enough to enhance the value differences within the green leaves.

Filters on lens recommendation.

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