yellow filter with XP-2?

I saw a photo book at Barnes and Nobles yesterday - some cool photos

of windmills using Super XP-2 with a yellow filter (dont remember the

number). I liked the effect very much - the image appeared to have

greater contrast, and had more of an old fashioned look.

I dont know much about B+W, shoot mostly color, but:

1)will a yellow filter give such a look with regular B+W films (t-max

100, Tri X, etc.) ?

2)does a yellow filter actually do anything with a "regular" print

film l;ike XP-2? Wont the print machines filter this effect out at the

photofinisher?

3)will a yellow filter affect Agfa Scala?

Thanks for any feedback, I know almost zero about Black and White

photography, but those photos got me interested.

Yellow filters will most likely increase the contrast of you pictures in B&W, regardless of film used. for question #2, you can normally ask for a print without modifications. for question #3, a yellow filter will affect Agfa Scala.

The yellow filter darkens blue areas, like the sky. An orange filter will have a stronger effect, with red ther strongest of all. A green filter will darken the blue sky while lightening green foliage. It'll work on Tri-X or other common B&W films. There's no way for the print machine to filter out this effect.

These filters work on all black and white films, chromogenic, slide or traditional. If you like yellow, try orange and red - the contrast gets higher and the skies get darker. Red isn't for everything, but for some subjects it's pretty cool. Moonrise over Hernandez (Ansel Adams) was shot with a red filter, I believe, and the sky is just about black.

The yellow filter will have approximately the same sky effect with XP2 Super, a C-41 process film, as it will with any other panchromatic (sensitive to all visible wavelengths of light) B&W film. The effect gets stronger as you go from light yellow to darker yellow, orange, and red. These filters work by filtering out blue light, giving the sky relatively less exposure in contrast to the white clouds which relect all wavelengths of the available light. That's why the blue skies are darker in the print. They are relatively less dense on the negative.

 

I say approximately because a lot has to do with the spectral sensitivity of the film. Among general purpose B&W films there is quite a bit of difference at the red end of the spectrum among brands. For example, Kodak's TMX and TMY films are more red sensitive than their Plus-X or Tri-X films and require less exposure adjustment with these contrast altering filters. For a yellow number 8 filter, the correction for Plus-X and Tri-X in daylight is one stop, while the correction for either 100TMX 400TMX is only 1/3 stop. Or if you look at it another way, shooting the same scene on the same day with Plus-X and 100TMX will yield a darker sky on the photograph made with 100TMX with no filtration. That effect is heightened more with the use of filters.

 

You can study the charts that both Ilford and Kodak publish for their films.

 

Delta 100 here: http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/100_Delta.pdf

 

Delta 400 here: http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/Delta400.pdf

 

XP2 Super here: http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/XP2SGB_QX.pdf

 

Tri-X here: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4017/f4017.pdf

 

Plus-X here: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4018/f4018.pdf

 

100TMX and 400TMY here: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4016/f4016.pdf

The key word is panchromatic. Just about every b&w film commercially available (not all though) are panchromatic, that means they respond to the full colour spectrum. They are usualy marked 'pan' on the box.

What you are doing by using a yellow or other colour filter is controlling that spectrum. This in turn effects the image.

Yellow generally increases contrast a bit, flatters skin tones and gives a bit more punch to the sky. Many b&w photographers consider the yellow filter to be the one that almost lives on the end of the lens, just as many colour photographers do with the skylight.

Oh there is nothing the photofinnisher can do to reverse the effect of colour filters on b&w film.

 

Bear in mind that with XP2 it is a happy coincidence that it prints quite well on colour paper, it is intended to be printed on b&w paper. And indeed it can print very well in the darkroom.

If you want a b&w film for printing on colour paper you may be better off with the Kodak product which is tweeked to suit colour paper.

xp-2 with a yellow filter: <p>

<img src=http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3581061-lg.jpg>

Thanks for all the responses, now I understand! I will start with a yellow filter, then maybe orange. BTW - cool picture!