Light Red vs Dark Red Filters???

Superdan138

Superdan138

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Which is better for general everyday use for B&W photography? I wanted to know which is better to leave on and be able to use more while shooting just about every time I would want the effects of this filter? Does B&W make the best one for this? thanks....

-Daniel
 
Neither. These are quite specialized filters, giving a very pronounced effect and eat a lot of light to boot.
 
From what i understand a Yellow or light orange filter might be better to 'bring out' the detail in clouds and other objects against contrasting backgrounds with black and white film
 
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Any of yellow (although with modern high-contrast lenses it's debatable if it'll do very much), orange or yellow/green would be a good choice for general use. The latter is kinda underused these days, but adds drama to skies, lightens foliage and does very nice things to caucasian skin tones. The reds are rather too specialist for everyday use IMHO.
 
if you want an everyday contrast filter I would recommend the B&W yellow orange. Its a great all rounder that will show its effect but not dominate what you do with it.
 
Not for everyday use, but a deep red filter is handy for the few infra-red or near-infra-red films that are still around. Also good for shooting pictures from altitude in airliners---any clouds in the shot look spectacular, and it punches up the contrast on the ground to the extent that you can actually see something in the negative/print.
 
It does all depend, however, upon just what one does 'everyday' thouhg doesn't it.

What is it that you do 'everyday' Ser?
 
Benjamin said:
It does all depend, however, upon just what one does 'everyday' thouhg doesn't it.

What is it that you do 'everyday' Ser?
Click to expand...


I take amazing pictures....everyday...;)...no seriously....I do virtually all B&W film....and was looking to really make things look more dramatic...I was told i should be using a red filter for a lot of my pictures....I love modern architecture.....abstract style, street photography and just heavy contrasts indoors and outside. I also wanted to get some drama stirring in the cloud sector also....what do you think now?

-Daniel
 
Looks like you've already received some good advice from others. I've recently been playing with a feature of Picasa (Google's free imaging software) called Filtered Black & White. Basically, rather than let Picasa do the B&W conversion for you, instead you can pick which filter color to apply. Not only do you then get the effect you want but what I've found really interesting is to be able to immediately see the differing effects from the different color filters. Might be a way to help you decide which filter color you want for your B&W film shooting.

-Randy
 
vrgard said:
Looks like you've already received some good advice from others. I've recently been playing with a feature of Picasa (Google's free imaging software) called Filtered Black & White. Basically, rather than let Picasa do the B&W conversion for you, instead you can pick which filter color to apply. Not only do you then get the effect you want but what I've found really interesting is to be able to immediately see the differing effects from the different color filters. Might be a way to help you decide which filter color you want for your B&W film shooting.

-Randy
Click to expand...


Great idea....many thanks.

-Daniel
 
"does very nice things to caucasian skin tones."
....actually I heard about green filters just a few weeks ago that it lightens up the skin of africans. (The guy was actually using another word, which made me wonder if it was racist to use a green filter)
 
Beside all the drawbacks mentioned, there is another: as blue light is destroyed by red filters (example blue sky is darkened) so is shadow light as it is really being light by the blue sky. Therefore increase in contrast without the benefit of all that precious shadow detail that makes your pictures so thick, deep, and in the end good.
 
^ yes, that is absolutely true. I have a really beautiful shot I took last year of a sea stack, and due to the use of a dark red filter the sky is spectacular. However, the shadow detail is non-existent.
 
Sometimes I load my camera with Delta 3200 and put a #25 filter on the lens and then just shoot the whole roll as if it was 400 speed film. I love that look. Especially architecture - red filtration really brings out the beauty of concrete. #29 is a little too strong - the shadow detail is pretty much missing with normal film. With IR film however, a 29 is pretty sweet. It's not got that IR look so much (the old hie did, but newer "820" IR films don't, but the tonality is just a bit off. Under-expose a little bit to keep the sky dark!
 
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