Question on color filtration with Black and White film.....

[scootermm]

Okay heres my situation.
I tried something out of my realm of photography comfort yesterday afternoon/evening. Some still life work.
I used only natural lighting and some burlap (bought 2 yards at the fabric store for $4) and some exotic flowers from the local central market. The flowers (forgot the name) are a deep maroon/reddish color with green stems. I shot them last night not using any filters at all with my Cambo 4x5 Monorail, 135mm lens, tripod, some lawn chairs for elevation, the universal lighting system (aka the Sun), and some Ultrafine 125 4x5 film. The exposures were about 1/10 - 1/20th of a second at around f22/32 and the negatives developed in PMK pyro for 11 mins. it was my first attempt at still life, composed photography really but Im pretty pleased with the results (these are just scans from my flatbed that are attached - the shot with the shadows from the tree will get reshot - I was out of sunlight and couldnt find a large enough piece of lit decking, altho I find it kind of interesting nonetheless)

what Im interested in is whether a red filter or a green filter would serve me better to accent the tonal difference between the deep red flower and the green stem but still leave me the ability to retain detail in my shadow areas.

I hope Im posting this in the correct forum.

if not please anyone move it to the correct forum.
thanks

heres the shots.

 

[noblebeast]

To the best of my knowledge the green filter will lighten the tone of the leaves/stem and allow the red flowers to stand out. A red filter will generally lighten the tone of the red, thereby making it less distinguishable from the stems and leaves. On the other hand, the red filter will darken the green of the flowers, giving a more pronounced contrast between the stem and the petals, and looking at the scans that may be the first thing to try, because the tones are pretty close together - at least on my monitor. Have I confused the issue enough for you, or should I dig myself a deeper hole?

Joe

 

[scootermm]

No what you are saying makes a fair amount of sense and is the way I was leaning.

Ill most likely shoot both with a green filter and a red filter to do some comparisons. I was more interested in getting the thoughts of fellow photographers (as youve done) and their experiences with similiar situations. It wont rule out me doing my own experiments and tests just nice to get the thoughts of other so maybe I dont have to repeat unneeded "stumbles" (yes some I believe are needed )that others have done before me.

 

[jim kirk jr.]

A red filter will (in my experience)darken the shadow areas too-sometimes in winter I shoot with a red filter not a polarizer(sometimes I forget to bring it) to darken the shadow areas.

 

[Shmoo]

The flowers look like "heliconias" or gingers...I think.

S