filters for b&w film

[putri]

how do u make the green foilage more contrasty? what does a green filter do?

[gary_meader]

Russel- A green filter will do what every filter does..it will lighten it's own color and darken

it's opposite color. And lighten and darken colors relative to where they are on the color

wheel with respect to green. Does that make sense? Your foilage problem couild be that

all the foilage is of one (nearly) tone. Getting an increase in the internal contrast of that

would be tough. If you're looking at the colors of spring, then I would suggest thinking in

terms of yellow/green to boost the yellow/green of those new leaves. An orange filter

would darken the mature leaves more that the new, so separation could happen that way.

It does all depend on exactly what you're shooting. Good luck, though.

[neal_wydra1]

Dear Russel,

 

Filters pass light of their color and reject light of other colors. A green filter will allow more green light to hit the film than other colors. That will make green objects denser on the negative and lighter on the print.

[bradley_artigue2]

That's backwards. In black and white photography, filters lighten the tone of the same color and allow the other colors to pass through. A green filter will block green and allow others through, thus making green grass pale.

 

Filters are sold in varying degrees; dark red, light red, orange-red, green, blue, etc. The "amount" of green (dark green) will block more green.

[peter_williams2]

Think again Bradley.

Go and read some texts on colour theory and look through a green filter.

Q. What colour is everything when you look through a green filter?

A. It all looks green.

That is because the filter is passing the green light through.

[raczoliver]

Why would it work the other way round with black and white? Does the filter "sense" the type of film loaded in the camera? "Hey, it's black and white, so instead of letting my own colour pass, I should block it!" No, no. Filters work pretty much the same, whether you have black and white or colour film behind it, or digital, or just your naked eye. Greens will be lighter, magenta will be darker. Other colours will cange slightly too.

[bradley_artigue2]

Right on - I've got it backwards. Red absorbs cyan, transmits reg, green absorbs magenta, transmits green...a dumb-ass response on my part at best. Not sure what I was trying to convey there; apologies.

 

Where's the damn delete function? :)

[bradley_artigue2]

Oliver, you feel better now? Probably been lurking around this forum all day waiting to react to a dumb-ass comment (I admit it). Clap, clap, etc...

 

My statement about the "you've got it backwards" was certainly wrong...the affect of lightening the tone (effectively overexposing by blocking the other colors) was not inaccurate. If you shoot black and white film with, say, a green filter then the green in the image will receive more light than the other colors and effectively lighten the tone of that color. Perhaps that's wrong too, I'm sure you're waiting to let me know.

 

Yes, my filter can detect the type of film I have loaded.

[raczoliver]

Good for you.