how to choose the best color filter for a given scene & B&W film?

[stradibarrius]

How do you make a decision whether to use a filter and which color filter.
I have a red, orange and yellow filter.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

My rule of thumb is warm filters i.e. red and yellow will darken cool subject matter like green foliage and blue sky. Warm filters will lighten warm subject colors. Red is warmer than the yellow so it has more of a dramatic effect on cool colors. I only have used red and yellow filters, but never used orange filters before. My guess is orange is between in effect of the yellow and red. I hope to learn what other APUGers have to say about color filters.

 

[Mike Wilde]

I shoot almost all pan b&w out of doors with a light yellow filter, and substitute a darker yellow if I want clouds to look more pronounced.

I am a fan of light green for adding just the right umph of contrast to skin tone for portraits shot under tungsten lighting.

Orange is good for making b&w portraits of people with freckles; it de-emphasies the freckles. Use with caution with red headed freckles subjects or their hair will look washed out and underexposed as well.

Orange can be good at pronouncing the separation of subtly different shades of greens in landscape work.

Kodak has a book on filters; I have owned and given away a few different editions of it over the years; I cannot lay my hands on the one I currently own at the moment.

 

[stradibarrius]

thanks mike...good info.

 

[brian steinberger]

stradibarrius, in short, filters lighten their own color and darken their opposite or complimentary color. For example, a red filter will lighten red objects and darken cyan (blue) objects. Yellow will lighten yellow and darken blue. Green will lighten green and darken magenta (red). But it's not so straight forward either, Red won't just lighten red objects, but will lighten orange, pink, and some yellow objects as well as these colors are close to red. I have a yellow, orange, red, and green filter, and use the orange far more than the others. To me yellow is a bit too subtle and red it a bit over the top, though I do use them for certain things, I'm talking about shooting landscapes, skies, clouds, etc. You have a good set of filters there. I'd certainly add a polarizer, and maybe even green. Alot of times when shooting deep blue skies with clouds I'll stack an orange filter with a polarizer, this is a nice blend for separating clouds from the sky. I've attached an example. The green filter is great in spring time with lots of foliage, it lightens things up. Green is also nice to darken down red or orange objects, such as barns. The best way to learn is to simply shoot the same scene without the filter, then add each one, and bracket your exposures as well, then when you look at the contact sheet you'll be able to make appropriate determination on filter factor, and you can also see the effects of each filter.

 

[Clay2]

All of the above plus I like an orange filter for shots with lots of snow.
Best regards,
/Clay

 

[bobwysiwyg]

Study a color wheel. Judge what, in your scene you want to emphasize or lighten, etc. and choose accordingly.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Martin Aislabie]

When viewing a scene and trying to find which filter to go for, I close one eye then hold the filter in front of my viewing one and look for the change in tones.

Somethimes it is necesary to flick the filter in and out of the scene.

More than about 10seconds and my brain starts to compensate for the colour and relative tonal changes

Its not a perfect technique but it works for me.

I have quite a range of coloured filters because I find my requirements vary with the light/season/view

Over-darkening of a clear blue sky by using too strong a filter gets boring very quickly - although we all seem to need to learn this leason for ourselves.

Martin

 

[stradibarrius]

Brian, thanks. I like the green pol. combo! I have a polarizer as well. I had thought about trying to stack them to see what would happen.

 

[brian steinberger]

Brian, thanks. I like the green pol. combo! I have a polarizer as well. I had thought about trying to stack them to see what would happen.

Thanks, that was an orange filter and polarizer combo. Try it, it works. I figure around +3 to +3 1/2 stops added for this combo.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

For dark skies with white clouds I used a red filter with a polarizer filter.

Jeff

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Same as Brian I think a lot about what colors a certain color filter will suppress the most.

When I used filters a lot, green filtration was clearly what went on the lens the most. Now I don't use them much, but perhaps I should...

Good luck!

- Thomas

 

[Q.G.]

There's a choice also (a major one too), not so much in what colour to supress, but by how much.
Yellow, orange and red, either one of them also available in darker or lighter versions: they all do the same, but to a different degree.

So a good 'all-round' collection would contain all three colours, to suit your intent.
If you already know you rather like the weaker or stronger, or 'medium' effect, you could pick one, or two.

Myself, i find a yellow filter good as a standard B&W-outside-in-fair-weather filter. Yellow-Green also.
Orange for a bit more drama. Red for a clearly exagerated (but that's what we want sometimes) look.
Blue filters for B&W i find a waste of money. Green too, but to a lesser degree. The yellow-green however is probably all one needs in that colour.

Unless of course, you are into making colour separations. Then you need a decent tri-colour set.

 

[jeffreyg]

I haven't seen blue mentioned. If you are into foggy days a blue filter can accentuate fog.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[TareqPhoto]

I use my digital camera, turn it to mono, use filters to see the effects, i can choose red, orange, yellow,.... to see the effect, from there i know which filter i need, in all cases i have red and yellow filters, if i feel i need something else i can order it.

 

[Aja B]

'How do you make a decision...' Try to pre-visualize what you intend to see in your print based on the contrast, colors, haze, etc. in the frame. There are so many variables that the addition of a filter is often a game of compromise where you may not like the effect of the filter over the entire frame but it works very well for 85% and the remaining 15% is only mildly objectionable. Judicious filtering can reduce the effect of haze (yellow), accentuate haze (blue), lighten sky-lit shadows (blue), darken foliage (red, orange) and lighten foliage (yellow, green) as a few examples. Fresh snow can be tricky, depending on the light. Too much shadow contrast (orange, red) can negate the vibrancy of enveloping light whereas a pale or medium yellow I find to be a nice effect.

In generic terms color filters are typically available in three grades: pale, medium and deep. Research the Wratten numbering system for a complete list of filters and partial explanation of their respective effects. Best to take your filters out, burn film and take careful notes of light and subject matter. Shoot identical scenes/subjects with different filters. Nothing wrong with combining a pol or ND with color filters, except for potential vignetting.