Lens filters

[redbandit]

What color filter is going to give the best results for the enlarger.. in seperating say tree branches from each other?

example, throw a bunch of black or brown candy canes in a pile on your table, what filter choice is going to give the best luck at getting the branches to be distinctly seperated on the print?

 

[neilt3]

Colour or black and white film ?
And
Colour or black and white printing ?
And
Colour or black and white enlarger ?

Are you asking about a filter to go on the camera when you take the picture, or to put on the enlarger lens when your printing ?

 

[redbandit]

on camera lens and all black and white.

have enough lower light afternoon shots of the woods i need to print out, but the contrast isnt enough to keep the branches seperated. just looks like a yarn ball got tossed on the paper.

 

[grain elevator]

Color filters can only affect the separation of different colors. They won't do a thing with objects that are all the same color.
Perhaps you need more exposure to get the branches off the film toe, and higher negative/printing contrast.
However generally in my experience, there's also a perceptual issue that leads to the yarn ball issue. Our two-eyes vision plus our brains being pattern recognition machines plus probably moving about means we can easily disregard irrelevant information out in the real, three-dimensional world, less so on a print. Pictures in the woods with lots of branches only turn out good for me when there's extraordinarily little mess, when things come together in some semblance of order that must be cleaner than would seem necessary at first.

 

[DREW WILEY]

For enlarging purposes, using Variable-Contrast paper, you will get higher contrast using a blue filter over the lens.

At the time of the shot itself, you need a contrast filter which differentiates the color of the branches from that of the background. If those are so similar that a colored contrast filter has little impact, about all you can do is try developing the negative a little longer to raise detail and textural contrast somewhat.

 

[neilt3]

If everything is the same colour , a filter won't help you .
You might want to look at how the scenes lit to raise contrast .
A bit of side lighting could help .
Either using a reflector or some off camera flash held to the side .

 

[Alex Benjamin]

1. Use shallow (or shallower) depth of field. The film plane doesn't distinguish depth the way the eye does—it doesn't see one branch, and other one feet behind, and two others three feet behind, etc. It just see shapes of the same luminance level on the same plane. By using shallow depth of field, you create the illusion of depth—therefore, separation—by having objects at different focus levels, and, by giving less light to objects further away. Good example below by our friend Ansel, in which the illusion of depth is perfect. He did use a #15 yellow filter for this scene, which darkened the shadows and lightened the yellow leafs

2. If you have some green foliage adding to the confusion, use a yellow or green filter. Film doesn't distinguish well the luminance difference between darker green foliage and brown, or brownish tree trunk—and dark grey rock, for that matter, so you can have a beautiful forest scene with trees, leaves and grass and a big bolder in the middle that ends up a mushy mess on black and white film. If you have green foliage, a yellow or green filter will at least lighten it and separate it from the branches. Choice will depend on the rest of the scene.

3. This all only works if you have light that adds contrast. I would suggest sun at somewhere between 20º and 60º, ideally some degree on the right or left of the scene. If light itself doesn't give you enough contrast, think about adding to your usual development time for that film/developer combo. Slow, higher contrast film like Ilford Pan F could also help.