Ortho Film Filters

[Hubigpielover]

Really interested in trying out some Ortho Plus and did some research on filters. It seems like there isn't much out there on what color filters to use like there is for pan film.

Anyone one of you gurus want to shed light on what the different color filters do.

 

[W_Taylor76]

Color filters can be used for various reasons.

1. to remove excess blue and violet light, in order to “correct” the black & white photograph
   
2. to produce contrast between different colored objects that reflect the same amount of light that our eyes and brain do automatically
   
3. artistic effects

Colored b&w filters let light pass through that is of the same color as the filter and blocks out light of that color's complementary color (the color opposite it on the color wheel).
The complementary color pairs are as follows:

• Red - Green
• Orange - Blue
• Yellow - Violet

Since ortho film in not red sensitive, using a red filter would be counter-intuitive because it would block out most of the blue light the film is sensitive to. On the other hand using a blue filter would lighten up the blues in the photo and darkening the oranges. The color filters would do the same as they would to pan film except the red filter since ortho is not red sensitive.

Here is a great tutorial as well you can reference on Freestyle Photo
https://www.freestylephoto.biz/black-and-white-filters-tutorial

 

[Hubigpielover]

Color filters can be used for various reasons.

1. to remove excess blue and violet light, in order to “correct” the black & white photograph
   
2. to produce contrast between different colored objects that reflect the same amount of light that our eyes and brain do automatically
   
3. artistic effects

Colored b&w filters let light pass through that is of the same color as the filter and blocks out light of that color's complementary color (the color opposite it on the color wheel).
The complementary color pairs are as follows:

• Red - Green
• Orange - Blue
• Yellow - Violet

Since ortho film in not red sensitive, using a red filter would be counter-intuitive because it would block out most of the blue light the film is sensitive to. On the other hand using a blue filter would lighten up the blues in the photo and darkening the oranges. The color filters would do the same as they would to pan film except the red filter since ortho is not red sensitive.

Here is a great tutorial as well you can reference on Freestyle Photo
https://www.freestylephoto.biz/black-and-white-filters-tutorial

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[Bill Burk]

Now you might be tempted to try yellow, and it would help keep skies from turning blank white... But the filter factor might be really high, I don’t know but instead of 2 it might be 8 like the red filter usually is for pan film.

 

[Ballinderry-Michael]

The 1964 Focal Press book Filter practice, by the authors H. Clauss and H. Meusel, suggests the following filter factors for daylight ortho (different factors for tungsten): Light yellow, 2: Medium yellow, 3-4; Deep yellow, 4-6; Light orange, 5-8; Deep orange, 6-12. So I agree with Bill Burk. You will have to investigate which of the yellows or oranges your filters are, because the book is 58 years old and the various brands of modern filter may not match the book.

That said, I have used the data with the "new" Ilford film in 35mm and had fairly happy results; so the data are a good starting point.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've used yellow and green filters on x-ray film, which is Ortho. I used their regular factors. The yellow filter was great for separating sky and clouds.

 

[pentaxuser]

Now you might be tempted to try yellow, and it would help keep skies from turning blank white... But the filter factor might be really high, I don’t know but instead of 2 it might be 8 like the red filter usually is for pan film.

Bill with Ortho Plus which is the film Hubigpielover mentions, I think Ilford says a factor of 5.5 for what it calls 109 Alpha "(deep yellow ) in daylight but only 2.5 for 104 Alpha (light yellow) which is I presume is equivalent to the usual 1 stop that most light yellows carry

pentaxuser

 

[pentaxuser]

I've used yellow and green filters on x-ray film, which is Ortho. I used their regular factors. The yellow filter was great for separating sky and clouds.

Andrew, I must admit that I have never been a fan of white skies which puts me off Ilford Ortho 80 Plus. I wonder if yellow works as well on Ortho Plus as it did on your X-ray film

pentaxuser

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Andrew, I must admit that I have never been a fan of white skies which puts me off Ilford Ortho 80 Plus. I wonder if yellow works as well on Ortho Plus as it did on your X-ray film

pentaxuser

From the examples that I have seen online, the filtered Ortho Plus look very similar to filtered x-ray that I use... very subtle darkening of sky, an overall improvement. I guess if one's goal is to have dark skies, best to use a panchromatic film...but I sure do love the look of some images shot with ortho films, especially x-ray green latitude. One of these days I'll run through a box Ortho 4x5...

 

[Hubigpielover]

Now you might be tempted to try yellow, and it would help keep skies from turning blank white... But the filter factor might be really high, I don’t know but instead of 2 it might be 8 like the red filter usually is for pan film.

II think I am going to just have to shoot a test roll and try it with the filters I have. I've got an old Hasselblad orange, yellow, and green filter. Should have picked up a blue one also. I will post the results once it happens.

The 1964 Focal Press book Filter practice, by the authors H. Clauss and H. Meusel, suggests the following filter factors for daylight ortho (different factors for tungsten): Light yellow, 2: Medium yellow, 3-4; Deep yellow, 4-6; Light orange, 5-8; Deep orange, 6-12. So I agree with Bill Burk. You will have to investigate which of the yellows or oranges your filters are, because the book is 58 years old and the various brands of modern filter may not match the book.

That said, I have used the data with the "new" Ilford film in 35mm and had fairly happy results; so the data are a good starting point.

Just ordered that book because it is cheap and seems like it would help me understand filtering and how to achieve what I want.

I'll do some test rolls of the Mississippi river, archetecture, etc and see what I come out with.

 

[mohmad khatab]

The topic is very interesting and great.
God bless you.

 

[John Patrick Garriga]

Now you might be tempted to try yellow, and it would help keep skies from turning blank white... But the filter factor might be really high, I don’t know but instead of 2 it might be 8 like the red filter usually is for pan film.

I've been playing around with this in my head a little bit. I'd love to use X-ray film for landscapes since it's cheap, and very fine grained. I didn't know if I could take a red 29 filter and run that over my lens, and if that would just result in a very very very long exposure time and still give me a white sky or a very very very very very very long exposure time and give me a black sky, leaving the rest of the image normal of course.

Thanks,
JP

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've been playing around with this in my head a little bit. I'd love to use X-ray film for landscapes since it's cheap, and very fine grained. I didn't know if I could take a red 29 filter and run that over my lens, and if that would just result in a very very very long exposure time and still give me a white sky or a very very very very very very long exposure time and give me a black sky, leaving the rest of the image normal of course.

Thanks,
JP

You won't get anything with the #29. It starts letting light in at around 600nm. XRAY that is Orthochromatic, is out to about 550. Blue sensitive XRAY is maybe out to 500nm. The strongest filter I've used on double-sided, green latitude XRAY film (it's orthochromatic), very similar to Ilford Ortho-Plus' look) is the #15 yellow. I've been wanting to try a light orange filter, as it appears it may work.

 

[John Patrick Garriga]

You won't get anything with the #29. It starts letting light in at around 600nm. XRAY that is Orthochromatic, is out to about 550. Blue sensitive XRAY is maybe out to 500nm. The strongest filter I've used on double-sided, green latitude XRAY film (it's orthochromatic), very similar to Ilford Ortho-Plus' look) is the #15 yellow. I've been wanting to try a light orange filter, as it appears it may work.

Reckon an orange/ yellow filter paired with a polarizer would give good results? A polarizer has been doing me alright with Mummy 400, at least getting me a light grey as opposed to blowout.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Reckon an orange/ yellow filter paired with a polarizer would give good results? A polarizer has been doing me alright with Mummy 400, at least getting me a light grey as opposed to blowout.

I'll bet you'll get something. Try it and let us know.