Green Filters for B&W

ColColt · Jan 10, 2016

I think the green (X1) filter is just about useless. With an ASA 400 speed film on an overcast day, which is the best kind of weather for portraits IMHO, will give you about 250 at f4-5.6. With the green filter you've lost 2 stops and if you have a 105 f2.5 lens you're going to have to shoot wide open. That's not conductive to the best quality over stopping down a couple of stops. I wouldn't want to shoot with that lens under 250 to be assured of a sharp photo. Anyone else run into this?

BrianShaw · Jan 10, 2016

With a tripod I'd be comfortable shooting that lens at speeds below 1/250... And hen there would be more aperture options. But in general, I've not found a green filter to be all that useful, despite having one in almost every filter size I use.

ColColt · Jan 10, 2016

I have used it before sans tripod but had to shoot wide open and at six feet the dof on that lens is not very much.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 10, 2016

I wouldn't use green for portraits - I think it would darken reddish or pink blemishes. I would use either no filter or a light yellow for a smoother look.

Bill Burk · Jan 10, 2016

It's a great filter for springtime foliage. Lightens leaves of fresh growth in somewhat the fashion of infrared film, but of course much less dramatic.

ColColt · Jan 10, 2016

For women, yes, but for guys-they don't care.

I wouldn't use green for portraits - I think it would darken reddish or pink blemishes. I would use either no filter or a light yellow for a smoother look.

NedL · Jan 10, 2016

Bill Burk said:
It's a great filter for springtime foliage. Lightens leaves of fresh growth in somewhat the fashion of infrared film, but of course much less dramatic.

Agree, especially the light green we have here in Northern California Springs. I like the wratten 11 ( x1 ) filter about equally with the yellow filter.
Also makes the skies just a bit darker, not as much as the yellow. I think the filter factor on mine is supposed to be 2 ( = 1 stop ) but I find it closer to 2/3 of a stop. AIso, if you have several shades of dark green in your photo, it can help separate them.

Ko.Fe. · Jan 10, 2016

Sorry, I'm not filters, portraits expert. I do have Tiffen Green Filter 1 from BH accidentally.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/54005-REG/Tiffen_40511G1_40_5_mm_Green_1.html It is very deep green, not like on BH picture.
Instead of returning it, I used it and find it working just like ND and contrast increase filter. Some folks are saying it works for white skin as well.

Those are with Greet Filter and Ilford Pan F+ and Kentmere 100 film.
Just scans, not prints.

This is the print. But I don't remember which film I used with green filter.

NB23 · Jan 11, 2016

Green film is always useful for portraits. Always. Darkens lips, gives a proper impact to the eyes. There's nothing worst than very light lips, makes people look sick to death.

Green filter is a very well kept secret.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 11, 2016

Just my personal tastes, but lips that look black don't look good to me - it reminds me of bright red lipstick, which to me looks hideous. Lips that are just slightly darker than the rest of the skin look best to me.

Andrew O'Neill · Jan 11, 2016

I second the use of a Wratten #11 green filter. One of my favourites.

RalphLambrecht · Jan 11, 2016

Theo Sulphate said:
I wouldn't use green for portraits - I think it would darken reddish or pink blemishes. I would use either no filter or a light yellow for a smoother look.

agreed and wide open and lower speeds are good for poetraits.no model wants a pin-sharp portrait.

NB23 · Jan 11, 2016

Theo Sulphate said:
Just my personal tastes, but lips that look black don't look good to me - it reminds me of bright red lipstick, which to me looks hideous. Lips that are just slightly darker than the rest of the skin look best to me.

Black lips? Hardly. Simply darker, as in real life.
And there are Yellow-Green filters, which are great for portraiture.

DREW WILEY · Jan 11, 2016

For portraits I routinely carry a light yellow-green XO filter for use with panchromatic film. It renders a more natural look, since typical pan
film is slightly depressed with respect to green sensitivity. The deeper X1 is wonderful for certain landscape applications. It's especially useful in the desert where you might want to darken the sky to bring out contrast in the clouds, but don't want red sandstone coming out pasty and unnaturally bright. I can also be useful for portraits of older men, where you want to accentuate wrinkles and age spots - that kind of rugged character effect which once prompted portrait pros to routinely use ortho film for the same specific application.

ColColt · Jan 11, 2016

I've taken shots of my Dad with the X1 I'm speaking about and loved the results. For a pimply faced teenager not so much but I don't shoot teenagers.

DREW WILEY · Jan 11, 2016

No sharp portraits? Look at AA's legendary 8x10 shot of Carolyn Aspachner, done full f/64 style with every pore in her face in focus. Utterly
gorgeous, though the "fuzzy-wuzzy" school threw a tantrum over it. Depends on the complexion and specific model of course, as well as the
lighting. Nearly all the large-format portraits I've done were shot hard-sharp, but then printed very delicately.

John Koehrer · Jan 11, 2016

Theo Sulphate said:
Just my personal tastes, but lips that look black don't look good to me - it reminds me of bright red lipstick, which to me looks hideous. Lips that are just slightly darker than the rest of the skin look best to me.

Green lipstick helps.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 11, 2016

NB23 said:
Black lips? Hardly. Simply darker, as in real life.

The only lips I like in the photos below are the ones on the blonde wearing a hat. Just my personal taste.

Edit: I must've done something naughty since the center photo has disappeared.

frank · Jan 11, 2016

For those willing to admit it, would taking a digital colour image and converting to black and white using a green channel be the same as using a green filter with black and white film? I'm thinking yes. This would be an easy way to observe the effect on a portrait.

semi-ambivalent · Jan 11, 2016

Andrew O'Neill said:
I second the use of a Wratten #11 green filter. One of my favourites.

I've read Disfarmer used a green filter for portraits. Here I thought it was the sun that did that to those farmers.

s-a

RSalles · Jan 11, 2016

Bill Burk said:
It's a great filter for springtime foliage. Lightens leaves of fresh growth in somewhat the fashion of infrared film, but of course much less dramatic.

Agree, gone there, done that.
Chuck Norris approves too, that's the way he does and then he donate the camera and filter to the NASA headquarters - it's proven that a camera used for him becomes sharper and much more distortion free then Hubble.

Cheers,

Renato

Sirius Glass · Jan 11, 2016

frank said:
For those willing to admit it, would taking a digital colour image and converting to black and white using a green channel be the same as using a green filter with black and white film? I'm thinking yes. This would be an easy way to observe the effect on a portrait.

It is not that simple. Go ahead and try it but I really do not think that it will look the same.

RSalles · Jan 11, 2016

frank said:
For those willing to admit it, would taking a digital colour image and converting to black and white using a green channel be the same as using a green filter with black and white film? I'm thinking yes. This would be an easy way to observe the effect on a portrait.

Hi Frank, how are you?

My bet is no, panchromatic film responds differently then the green channel of the digital image. I'm not telling you that the resulting image will not come nice, in any way, But I see the film registering more light spectrum then the green also, just "working" on this wavelength, but the digital working only only with green I suppose it throws completely the other two and some content of the image as well, even being b&w converted, or grey tones,

Cheers,

Renato

Roger Cole · Jan 11, 2016

Yeah, you'd have to have a very sharp cutting filter to get the film to approximate the digital channel, much sharper than most we're talking about here, but they probably exist.

Roger Cole · Jan 11, 2016

Theo Sulphate said:
The only lips I like in the photos below are the ones on the blonde wearing a hat. Just my personal taste.

I like the one on the left the best. The dark haired model's lips are a bit overly dark though I don't really find it objectionable. But the left one looks most realistic to me, if black and white can be called realistic.

Green Filters for B&W

ColColt

BrianShaw

ColColt

Theo Sulphate

Bill Burk

ColColt

NedL

Ko.Fe.

NB23

Theo Sulphate

Andrew O'Neill

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RalphLambrecht

NB23

DREW WILEY

ColColt

DREW WILEY

John Koehrer

Theo Sulphate

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semi-ambivalent

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Green Filters for B&W

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