re: Red/orange filters.

I have a question re red/orange filters that you may be able to help me with.

In these dull winter London days the skys are the inevitable gray with even but evident cloud cover the sky. In my latest batch of photos the sky is a dull blanket of white with no real contrast. Furthermore in a recent trip to San Francisco the chess board that was being used by a couple of guys in the street from one angle looked fine i.e. Black and white squares, nice contract, from another angle the contrast between black and white was barely noticeable. The board appeared a white chess board.

I’ve been looking into this (im a beginner with the Leica system as you can tell) and ive decided that I need either a red or orange red filter. I shoot black and white film, mainly Illford XP2.

Am I correct in this thinking or do I have a lot to learn re the use of exposure?

A couple of points, im using an M6TTL with a new 50mm f2 Summicron lens. I also tend to use a UV0 filter all of the time. I would prefer a screw on filter like my UV0 rather than a square one that sits in a filter holder as the camera often lives under my coat and the corners of the filter will make the camera too difficult to use. If any of you use such a filter id appreciate it if you could inform me of the part number.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jason Vicinanza London, England

-- Jason Vicinanza (jcvicinanza@btinternet.com), February 18, 2001

Answers

Film doesn't "see" colors like human eyes do, and I've found that with XP-2 a medium yellow filter (#15) narrows the difference between my vision and the camera's. The Summicron takes a 39mm filter size. Nothing short of Photoshop can turn that London sky into California Blue -- learn to enjoy it.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), February 18, 2001.

You need to learn more about filters. It doesn't have to do with what camera you use. For example, the problem you first describe (bland grey sky) will not be fixed by a filter. A red or orange filter will darken a blue sky. In the chessboard example, more contrast will help (if that's possible without affecting other elements of the image), but a red or orange filter won't shift black or white squares on a chessboard.

I'd suggest a local photography course, or at least reading up some basic books on light and color. Understanding color theory will help you to understand how filters work and what they will do.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), February 18, 2001.

Jason:

As stated above, yellow, orange and red filters will only darken the BLUE component of the sky -- the white, gray and black portions of the sky will stay white, gray and black. (Filters transmit light in their primary color easily, and hold back their opposite color -- opposite on the "Light" color wheel, not the opposite pigment color.) As for your chess board, if it had black and white squares originally, and they all came out white, then you over exposed the scene relative to the chessboard, or there was a reflection off its surface from a light source. (This problem would be worse if the squares were red and black.) In the gray sky of London or San Francisco, you will see little improvement with any filter, unless blue sky is present. Kodak puts out a superb pamphlet on "Using Filters" -- I'd suggest you pick up a copy as it will enlighten you as to the mystery of filter use for both B&W and color film.

Cheers,

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 18, 2001.

Kodak seems to have jumped onto the web/photo bandwagon. There are a chart and some explanations at and around:

www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/pictureTaking/ lenses/lensFil10b.shtml

This is a good start.

-- Tse-Sung Wu (tsesung@yahoo.com), February 20, 2001.

Jason, while (as documented by the others) filters won't help much, let me raise a possibility not suggested by the others. It is possible that a different film might solve the problem. I have gotten very good contrast from Kodak Tri-X under similar gray, drizzly overcast conditions, using no more exotic a developer than D- 76 1:1 or XTOL. I'd recommend it.

Best wishes,

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), February 24, 2001.