Using filters indoors?

[cornellfrancis]

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Hello all, just had a question about filters and shooting b&w.

 

I understand that a yellow filter is a good general purpose filter especially when shooting landscapes or outdoor subjects that include the sky. I also understand green filters are generally understood to be good for portraits as it creates pleading contrast in skin tones.

 

Do you also use these filters indoors?

 

I'm having a hard time figuring out which filters I should be using. I kind of like to avoid the cumbersome step of changing filters all the time. Does anyone shoot with a yellow filter permanently attached to their lens? Do you change filters based on subject (people vs landscapes) and location (indoors vs outdoors)?

 

I know it will take some trial and error on my part but would love to get some advice from you knowledgable folks. Thank you.

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[cornellfrancis]

I guess the thing is I haven't been using any colored filters at all for my b&w shots and they generally look ok to me. Does anyone else see differently? Some samples can be found at the link below.

 

http://cornellfrancis.tumblr.com/

[swiss leica fan]

I normaly use a yellow or an orange filter when I shoot BW film. I will do without filter only when I need the speed. I'd say indoor with low light conditions I would not use a filter.

Regards

Andreas

[kokoshawnuff]

Like swiss leica fan I typically shoot with an Orange 040 filter (~1.5 stops) only removing it on overcast days, at night, or when I need the speed. A yellow filter (light or dark), like a green filter, can be great for portraiture...but do yourself a favor and limit your contrast filter collection to 2 or 3; with more than a couple, switching can really become an annoyance.

[sblitz]

i've only used filters indoors for color film to balance the light. not sure whether the filters on b&w work same indoors when trying to improve contrast created by artificial light.

[tobey bilek]

Filters work by passing light of their own color and had holding back other colors. The amount of hold back depends on the density of the filter and the chromance of the other color. Yellow will hold back very little orange because orange is made from yellow and red.

Blue being further removed from yellow on the color wheel is held back more.

 

With yellow filter, a true blue sky will go darker and yellow flowers will be lighter in relation to other colors but not lighter overall assuming you exposed and printed properly.

 

A filter absorbs some light necessitating a filter factor for more exposure. Light , med, dark yellows will be around .5, 1, 1.5 stops outdoors. It also varies depending on film type, older emulsions were already short on blue sensitivity. New films have more blue sensitivity and are more panchromatic. Filter factor is different.

 

Can they be used indoors? For sure. The filter factor is smaller for yellows, orange, red compared to outside because indoor light is rich in those colors and short blues. The effect is the same or similar however.

 

Find the true filter factor for your film and light by exposing a grey board without filter and then with and open the aperture bracketing the amount. The frame that gives the same density to the grey is the proper filter factor. Repeat for each filter and film type and light source, indoor or outdoor.

 

With a modern emulsion like TMax or Delta 100, they are panchromatic enough that yellow is not needed to get proper color representation outdoors. Older film benefit more.

[StS]

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A yellow filter shouldn't make much of a difference, especially for normal filament illumination. Both, yellow filter or Tungsten filament, should attenuate UV and blue light, compared to unfiltered daylight. A green filter should cut red and IR as well, where filament illumination should give high intensities. Tungsten filaments radiate "cooler" in terms of filament temperature (or "warmer" in terms of colour perception) compared to halogen lamps, so this "yellow filter effect" should be stronger for Tungsten filaments.

 

Looking at the data sheet of Kodak's black and white films, the difference between Tri-X and Tmax 400 should be much lower compared to BW400, which appears to come with a built-in yellow filter*. Both silver-based films are very sensitive in the blue and UV range.

 

Stefan

 

 

 

*footnote - some time ago, I made an overlay of the spectral sensitivities of three black and white films -

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/128633-spectral-sensitivity-black-white-films.html

[cornellfrancis]

Filters work by passing light of their own color and had holding back other colors. The amount of hold back depends on the density of the filter and the chromance of the other color. Yellow will hold back very little orange because orange is made from yellow and red.

Blue being further removed from yellow on the color wheel is held back more.

 

With yellow filter, a true blue sky will go darker and yellow flowers will be lighter in relation to other colors but not lighter overall assuming you exposed and printed properly.

 

A filter absorbs some light necessitating a filter factor for more exposure. Light , med, dark yellows will be around .5, 1, 1.5 stops outdoors. It also varies depending on film type, older emulsions were already short on blue sensitivity. New films have more blue sensitivity and are more panchromatic. Filter factor is different.

 

Can they be used indoors? For sure. The filter factor is smaller for yellows, orange, red compared to outside because indoor light is rich in those colors and short blues. The effect is the same or similar however.

 

Find the true filter factor for your film and light by exposing a grey board without filter and then with and open the aperture bracketing the amount. The frame that gives the same density to the grey is the proper filter factor. Repeat for each filter and film type and light source, indoor or outdoor.

 

With a modern emulsion like TMax or Delta 100, they are panchromatic enough that yellow is not needed to get proper color representation outdoors. Older film benefit more.

 

 

I never thought about the filter factor changing depending upon the light. That is interesting. So when filter manufacturers say that a filter is 2x they are referring to daylight?