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Posted by Jason Sliviak on October 09, 2000 at 09:55:30:
In Reply to: B&W using filters posted by Sweet on October 08, 2000 at 17:41:15:
: I enjoy taking B&W pictures but they always look so plain. I read an article once on using colored filters to vary the tint of B&W. Can anyone help by telling me a few filter colors and how the pictures come out using that filter color?
The most common filters to enhance black and white photography are the yellow, orange and red filters. Yellow giving a small increase in contrast giving more detail in clouds etc. Red giving the greatest amount of change. A red filter will somtimes render the sky almost black. It will really separate the clouds from the sky, however too much for my liking (unrealistic). It also makes foliage overly dark. I prefer the orange filter for a happy medium.
You must remember when shooting with filters in B+W that the color filter used will lighten like colors. For example: A red filter will make a red barn lighter in color, yet still darken the sky. Also if you are shooting a rose bush in black and white, the red and green will look almost the same shade of gray (like you said plain). You could use a red filter to darken the leaves and brighten the rose, or you could use a green filter to lighten the leaves and darken the rose. Your preference.
Editor's Note: The general rule for filters
and black and white photography:
1. the color of the filter you put on the camera, everything in
the scene which contains that color will be rendered lighter.
2. the complement of the color filter on the camera, everything
in the picture which contains the complementary color will be
rendered darker.
Some complimentary colors: red and green, yellow and blue, orange and purple. Some photographers use a green filter for black and white portraits of people taken outdoors to darken the flesh tone.
end of archived message
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