Green filter for BW work

[arnabdas]

1. Which B+W/other good brand green filter can I use to lighten green

foliage in the background when shooting BW macros on TMAX/TriX/Acros?

 

2. Will they also help if I use them on my DSLR as well and then

desaturate in PS?

 

Objective here is to lighten the green foliage to bring out the

subject.

 

3. What filter should I use to darken green foliage to bring out

light macro subjects of a different color?

[arnabdas]

Followup: I was thinking of this one <P><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=7567&is=REG" target ="_blank">http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=7567&is=REG</a><P> Will this help to lighten foliage? From the example it seems to darken green fields intead. I'm oh so slightly confused. Please help! Thanks,

[flaviosganzerla]

Arnab, not answering your question because I don?t have those filters, yellow and green. But... what abou using infrared film to lighten foliage? The problem is the film is either grainny or very slow.

[todd_schoenbaum]

Green folliage tends to present a problem in this regard. As you notice from the example shot, the yellow-green filter did nothing to the folliage. Green filters will have a similar non-effect. I have heard this before. <p>The problem (if I remember correctly from my undergrad Botany class) is that although plants appear green they are also reflecting a LOT of light in other wavelengths. So that even if you are letting more of the green wavelengths through, a lot of the other light from the plants/trees is being blocked, thus minimizing the filter effect. Your best bet may be to make sure that the folliage lands in a middle zone and dodge it out during the printing if possible. <p>Todd Schoenbaum<br><a href="http://www.celluloidandsilver.com">Celluloid and Silver</a>

[michaelging]

Any Filter will lighten its own color and darken all others. A green filter will make green foliage a lighter shade of gray and will darken a blue sky.If you use a red filter it darkens both the sky and leaves.I have never shot B&W with my digital camera so I don't know for sure,but I would suspect that you can add filters later in PS.A green filter on portraits will darken the red in peoples faces so I makes a person look tan in a B&W photo.

[james___]

A green #58 filter will lighten any green foliage and darken the sky while a red filter will darken green foliage and darken the sky also. Remember that a red filter and to some extent a green filter will also darken any shadowed areas in the scene. As for a digital camera I would think using a filter would be of little consequence because you can manipulate it in PS all you want.

[johnmarkpainter]

Arnab,

 

Don't bother with the Filters on a DSLR. Convert to B&W using the CHANNEL MIXER. That

works in a way that is similar to using Filters with B&W Film.

 

If you do a search here for "Convert Channel Mixer" you will find lots of tips.

 

jmp

[chris_waller]

I ran some trials using yellow, yellow-green and deep green filters (all Hoya HMC). I found a significant lightening of foliage with the yellow, marginally more with the yellow-green but little improvement beyond that with the deep green.

 

The rule is that filters lighten their own colour and darken the complementary colour, e.g. green lightens green but darkens magenta subjects.

[arnabdas]

Thanks a bunch everyone, these comments are helpful!

 

I'll go with the yellow-green one then. My 2nd question re DSLR was not that important, just curious. I'd rather like to use this filter with fine-grained BW film.

 

Chris, how are the Hoya HMC filters? Will the B+W (link in my prior post) be good?

[paul_hoyt]

Leaves in general tend to be low in color saturation and do not separate well in B&W. Green folage tends to look brighter than it really is because we are green sensitive. Modern B&W film tends to be 1 f/stop green insensitive and green folage then appears low on the exposure scale. One way to separate green folage and give it a more robust feeling is to expose high on the exposure scale (Zone VI) with a green filter and expand the negative development to N+1.

 

Paul

[lex_jenkins]

I find a green filter to be flattering for use with most skin tones and b&w films. Some of the best photos I've taken of family babies were shot with a green filter and a chromogenic monochrome film like Kodak's or Ilford XP2 Super.

 

I don't use it for general photography. My usual filter for landscapes, architecture, etc., is a deep orange.

 

I've never seen enough difference from light or medium yellow filters to bother with 'em any more.

[keith turrill]

At the risk of being a PS Elements 2.0 nut, I have been experimenting with attempting to duplicate filter effects by creating Red, Green, and Blue copy layers. I then turn off the color on each layer and compare. Additionally, after converting each color layer to B&W, contrast and brightness can be adjusted. The unwanted layers can then be deleted.

 

The example that I use is a clouds in a blue sky through a red filter. I have not tried it yet with foliage and a green layer but it should work.

 

If you can work out a digital filter technique in your editing software, it would save some money in filters. The only glass filters that I use consistantly are a polarizer for some outdoor work and a UV to protect the lens.