Which level of yellow filters for B&W?

[Craig]

Thanks! I've hiked into Boom Lake before, but that was a long time ago.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

A common beginner mistake is to think this is just about darkening blue sky for sake of better clouds. But how is your choice of filter going to affect other things in the same scene? Go to the Southwest where there is a lot of brick-red Navajo sandstone and related soil color, use a yellow, orange, or red filter to darken the sky, and you'll get over-exposed bland paste-like rock tones.

Great advice. I knew I had read something similar once. Took me a while to find it, but I finally did. From Ansel Adams' Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs. In the comment on his "Sand Dunes, Sunrise" (1948), he writes:

"Edward [Weston's] first visit to Death Vally resulted in a number of failures. He used a strong yellow filter, thinking that such would separate earth and sky. He did not realize that yellow and reddish earth photographed with a yellow filter (like the Wratten No. 8, K2) will be overexposed if the normal filter factor is used, because filters pass their own color freely. He discovered that using the filter with no filter factor cause the earth to retain its inherent values, but the blue sky and the bluish shadows were definitely lowered in value. I thanked Edward for this information; on my first trip to Death Valley I followed his suggestions with considerable success."

Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs is a good book to learn about the effects of using different filters. Adams used filters in many more photographs than I thought, and he explains really well his different choices—as well as the different mistakes he made with them.

 

[GregY]

Thanks! I've hiked into Boom Lake before, but that was a long time ago.

The photo is from the Consolation lake side.

 

[Rob Skeoch]

B+W uses a different coding for their filters.
A 022 looks yellow, and sucks up one stop of light.... it's not enough unless you're at elevation where the effect is greater.
A 040 looks orange, and sucks up two stops... this is my go-to filter for black and white and all you really need.
A 090 looks red, and is too much.... leaving the shadows hollow since they tend to be lit by the blue sky light, which has a blue cast, and is greatly affected. It's three stops. At elevation, it's really too much.
A 092 is very dark red, and for shooting IR film. You can't focus with the filter in place unless you're using a rangefinder camera or maybe a twin lens.

 

[gone]

It probably depends on what effect you want. For me, a K2 gave me somewhat minimal loss of light combined with darker, more contrasty skies and clouds. I just keep a K2 screwed onto any lens I own. If you were in lower light levels, the lighter Yellow filter might be better for focusing.

Unlike Rob, I never got on w/ an orange filter, especially if my subject was Black. It made my wife's skin color look very different than she actually looked like in person.

 

[GregY]

It probably depends on what effect you want. For me, a K2 gave me somewhat minimal loss of light combined with darker, more contrasty skies and clouds. I just keep a K2 screwed onto any lens I own. If you were in lower light levels, the lighter Yellow filter might be better for focusing.

Unlike Rob, I never got on w/ an orange filter, especially if my subject was Black. It made my wife's skin color look very different than she actually looked like in person.

I don't use filters for portraiture, but i use both yellow (1 stop) and orange (2 stop) all the time in the mountains.....& as Drew pointed out.... i've got some greens for visits in the SW USA.

 

[Pieter12]

Filters for portraiture can be tricky. Depends on the skin tone and the effect you're after. No filter is usually the best route. Different filters that affect red can exacerbate blotchiness or turn skin ashen or pitch black. I believe Ansel Adams recommended a green filter for male Caucasian subjects, making them look more "rugged."

 

[Sirius Glass]

A common beginner mistake is to think this is just about darkening blue sky for sake of better clouds. But how is your choice of filter going to affect other things in the same scene? Go to the Southwest where there is a lot of brick-red Navajo sandstone and related soil color, use a yellow, orange, or red filter to darken the sky, and you'll get over-exposed bland paste-like rock tones. Same with brick buildings. Use a green filter instead, and you'll not only bring out the clouds in a blue sky, but deepen the brick hues. If you simply look through a given color of contrast filter, you can get a general impression of the result, even though pan films see things somewhat differently than our eyes do.

Just a few days ago I went down to our shoreline, and had to remove my routine deep orange filter and replace it with a medium green one. Why? Not only was there a blue sky with some interesting clouds in it, but blue salt marsh pools in the foreground reflecting all that. And all around them was a lot of low salt-marsh foliage, turned red in autumn. If I had used an orange filter, everything surrounding the pools would have been rendered nearly as light as the pools themselves. All the drama in the scene I wanted would have been ruined.
The secret was the green filter instead. The blue of the sky and those reflective pool was somewhat darkened, allowing clouds and cloud reflections more opportunity to show, while the red foliage itself was dramatically darkened, making the pools themselves, and their details, far more apparent.

Learn to think and see like film, and not just along the lines of some filter advertisement.

Yes, that is why I bought the Green and Yellow Green filters.

 

[jay moussy]

I am hand-metering with older SLRs.
Rule of thumb to compensate for filter light absorption?

 

[BrianShaw]

I am hand-metering with older SLRs.
Rule of thumb to compensate for filter light absorption?

Filter factor or exposure reduction amount, as stated on the filter.

 

[macfred]

I usually use a yellow-green filter (+1) when taking photographs outside - dark yellow (+2) or even medium orange (+2.5) for darkening skies and for better clouds.

Yellow-green with blue skies and a red-head girl (400TX):

Medium-orange, blue skies and brick (TMY 400):

 

[DREW WILEY]

Rob - glad you pointed out the differences in brand numbering. I once ordered a 22 B&W filter assuming it meant the same thing as a deep orange Heliopan 22, but it didn't, and was pale orange instead. B&W had a completely different number for what I actually wanted, which I don't think they even make anymore.

 

[JPD]

A deep yellow filter like #15 will cut through some haze for sharper and contrastier details in the distance. Not as much as an orange filter, but with less risk of the results looking too dramatic.

 

[jay moussy]

Well, a friendly neighbor gave me an 85A orange-y filter... worth experimenting, not expecting much due to low density?
Some readings say it will have zero B&W effect (except maybe flash use?), others liken it to a weak yellow.

 

[Pieter12]

I am hand-metering with older SLRs.
Rule of thumb to compensate for filter light absorption?

You really should figure out you own filter factor combined with each type of film you use. Start with the stated factor (sometimes expressed in stops, sometimes as filter factors, which are not stops) and the ISO you have determined for each film. Set up a tripod and shoot the same scene, bracketing by 1/2-1/3 stop over and under. Then examine the results and use the factor that gives you the effect you expect and want for that filter. Easiest done with 35mm, lots of exposures per roll. This method is also recommended with TTL metering, as some photocells react differently to different wavelengths of light.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Well, a friendly neighbor gave me an 85A orange-y filter.

That's not going to do much of anything unless you want to shoot tungsten balanced Kodachrome outdoors.

With the price of filters on ebay you can afford to buy a selection of colors and try for yourself. Great way to waste a lovely afternoon.

IMO, Filters are the most over-hyped photographic accessory. Any old brand of filter will give identical results (any filter that hasn't been run over by a truck first). Hmm, 'Diana' style filters might catch on - need to buy a truck first.

 

[DREW WILEY]

An 85A will act like any hypothetical contrast amberish filter of the same hue. It will not be inert with b&w film, but have some effect at least But that probably won't be enough for typical b&w expectations like a deeper orange might be. And there won't be any published filter factor recommendations for pan film.

 

[CMoore]

Yellow filter will lighten yellow and darken blue and violet. Effect increases according to grade, so #8 has light effect, #12, more, and #15 the most of the yellows.

Which you want really varies according to both the effect you wand and the type of photography you do. They are not useful for portrait photography, neither are they practical for street photography, as they tend to darken shadows and increase contrast.

Street Photography is pretty much all i do.
My experience is Definitely in line with what you say above.
There are always exceptions, but generally speaking you hit the nail on the right part.

 

[drfoxmd]

+1

And add a polarizer in there too. These are the only two filters I use.

Yes, A medium yellow and a polarizer will
cover most all of your needs.

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Even with brass filter rings, a filter wrench (or a set of them) is handy to keep in your bag. Really makes removing a stuck filter much easier.

Just to say: that's why Hasselblad uses the hood, and/or a thick toothed retaining ring (#50350), to mount the (series VIII-) filters, and bajonet mounts for smaler diameters...

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Yes, A medium yellow and a polarizer will
cover most all of your needs.

The trouble with a polariser is the wide(-r) angle lens...

 

[Philippe-Georges]

This is what a (dark-) red filter does in the city, sidewalk cobbles and the building's stones on the right are of bluestone, the roofs in slate.
Film exposed at 1600ASA (handheld).

And this is what an orange filter does in the same city but on an other day.
Film exposed at box speed (handheld).

Hasselblad SWC on Tri-X in E-76 1+1 and wet scanned on Epson 750.

 

[ic-racer]

This is what yellow filter does:

 

[ic-racer]

Just kidding! No filter.

Just to make the point, that without the comparison print with no sky burn, who can tell anything about the filter's effect.

 

[ic-racer]

Orange filter:

Just kidding, no filter.