Filters for B&W in snow. Necessary?

[doug_raddatz]

I am going out to start using my grandfathers old crown graphic and

start my experience into large format on a more serious level. I

will be developing negs myself. I will be shooting Ilford Delta 100.

What I was curious about is are there any filters that are useful in

a snow covered enviroment that will help with contrasting the tones.

Besides snow there will be some evergreens, bare trees, and old

steel playground equipment with patches of paint here and there for

subject matter.

Any books anyone would recommend as you can never have too many

books. Thanks in advance. Doug

[fpa]

AA's "The Negative" (or his older "Natural Light Photography") covers this issue. I seem to remember that he doesn't generally recommend much stronger than a #6 or maybe #8, for the fear that the microshadows in the snow will make it look grainy.

 

If it's farther away, so that microtexture isn't a problem, then you can use whatever stronger filter you need for the other aspects of the scene, at the risk of blowing the snow out to pure white.

[john_kasaian1]

Doug,

 

I'm no expert, but I have had pretty good results with a K2(yellow) filter. Funny thing though, I was just looking at a shot I took last saturday without any filter at all that looks pretty good to my eyes, but the snow was powder with very little moisture---you couldn't even make a snowball with it---fairly uncommon around here. If it had been the usual "sierra cement" it would have come out looking like wedding cake frosting (FWIW, it was sunny and I was shooting tri-x.) It seems to me that the structure of the snow has something to do with how a filter will perform, as well as the angle of the sun(if there is sun!) An interesting topic!

[oskar_ojala]

It depends very much on the lighting and to some extent of what you're after. Generally, I'd consider a mid-yellow and a light green to be useful for better sky separation (heavily overcast days with lots of snow are best reserved for closeups anyway), but might throw in a red for dramatic effects.

 

You can get away without anything pretty well, but if you're interested in trying something, then the yellow or the light green would be my recommendation.

[francis_abad]

On bright sunny days where snow is aplenty (high contrast lighting) I use a yellow 2x filter. On overcast or cloudy days where the lighting is of low contrast I use no filter at all. In both cases I make adjustments to the metered exposure of between 2 to 3 stops.

[doug_raddatz]

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone. It's really appreciated. I just came back in from shooting the scene. Taking your advice I used a #3, and 2 #8's, (one was a hair lighter than the other, one kodak and one walz). Adjusted the exposure 2 stops over. Now I just have to wait for my chemicals to come in so I can process them. I will post it as soon as I can. <BR><BR>Wonder what it is about seeing that image popping on the GG that just makes you want to suffer through 15 below weather in a snowstorm for a couple shots. Ahhhh what a great addiction it is though.. Thanks again.. Doug