b&w film, red filter, family portrait

[smileyguy]

I'm never sure where to post these questions that I have so I hope this is the right board for it. 😱

Friends have asked me to do family portraits for them and they have asked for some of them to be outside and in black and white. I like dramatic skies (don't like washed out ones for sure) and thought that if I have interesting skies it would make sense to use a red filter to bring that out. Would that have any negative effects on skin tones in b&w? Would I be better off using a polarizer? Should I even worry about it and just go with no filter?

I appreciate your input.

 

[Sparrow]

Go for green; red and they’ll look like the Adams family!!

 

[Trius]

Or yellow-green.

 

[smileyguy]

Hmmmm, I have a yellow warming filter, would that help at all? No green but you're saying that red will make them look pasty?

 

[Pherdinand]

a colour filter lets through light with its own colour, and block efficiently light wthat is of the complementary colour. On BW this will manifest between increasing contrast between the objects that are of the colour of the filter and other objects.
A red filter therefore will make normal skin look pale and any blemish, makeup or such stand out dark on it.
Photoshop channel mixing or "photo filters" is a good way to test these filter effects. Open a full colour image, apply the filter and convert to grayscale (or desaturate) without further adjustments.

 

[Pherdinand]

Enhancing sky in black and white is also possible by carefully choosing the direction of shooting. Make sure you don't overexpose the sky, thus don't put your subjects (the people) in shadow where you would need to increase exposure.

 

[Sparrow]

Hmmmm, I have a yellow warming filter, would that help at all? No green but you're saying that red will make them look pasty?

No they’ll look dead, white skin pale lips and eyes, green will give them a tan and help the contrast of the lips sort of “healthy” looking, just look out for any blemishes on the skin it will also enhance spots and pimples OK for kids, less so for teenagers

 

[triplefinger]

also consider the color of those you're shooting, black brown white yellow olive...

i agree with the photoshop channels test.

 

[Sparrow]

also consider the color of those you're shooting, black brown white yellow olive...

i agree with the photoshop channels test.

good point, did'nt think about that, sorry

 

[Jocko]

A red filter therefore will make... any blemish, makeup or such stand out dark on it.

Actually, the exact opposite is usually true. When I took up photography at college, long before photoshop had even been dreamed of, I routinely used red filters on almost all my portraits. Acne and blemishes are usually red or reddish and the filter effectively removes these marks completely, as most of my sitters hoped. The same is true of make up. Red or reddish lipsticks and blushers are lightened and if a "made up" look is desired, bluer tones are best.

I would also dispute that red filters remove skin tone to produce a ghastly image. Certainly, the results are much smoother, but much depends on what is wanted and the photographer's use of lighting. I have used Red filters to good effect to get exactly the combination of smooth flesh and dramatic sky Smiley Guy wants, and anyone can.

Cheers, Ian

 

[Sparrow]

Ian I think that shows exactly the skin pallor induced by a red filter, that’s what makes it dramatic. I agree about the spots and makeup


This was filtered green i think

 

[smileyguy]

Hmmmm, she definitely doesn't look dead! I get the feeling I won't be taking pictures quite like this on the weekend!

 

[iamskye]

Ancient thread bump.

I was doing some searches to see if the glow I got in this photo was from the red filter or push dev I used. Combination of both I guess. Whether or not you like the effect of red filters on portraits is a matter of subjective taste but you should always work back from the desired result anyway.

Should have fixed the nose shine...
Added advantage is it's an easy way to stop down 400iso b&w in the daytime,, especially if you're using something like an Hexar AF with max 1/250 shutter.