Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jean-Claude Berger wrote: > Hello Bernard, > > > The way I work, it's black and white where I need filters, not > color. I > > have two grades of green, two grades of red [...] > > Very interesting. What makes you choose a grade or another of the same > color before shooting? Do you tend to level the effect, for example by > choosing a dark red with a light blue sky and a light red with a dark > sky or, at the opposite, do you emphasize it? As far as the sky goes, you need to decide just how dark you want it. Blue will go from white to black, depending on the filter. Factor-8 red means a black sky in most situations. The level of drama you get from clouds (if there are any) changes accordingly. But that's not the whole story. Red will darken foliage, and I happen to like that (Mark Rabiner hates it). So again, you have to judge the foliage you're dealing with and decide how dark you want. Those darkened trees and things, make for very nice accents in my opinion. Then there's architecture. Red filters add a lot of contrast to stone buildings. When the main object of the photo is the building (a church, for instance), I normally grab for the factor-8 straight away. If other objects are involved (foliage, grass, or even large shadows), the factor-5 is a wiser choice. > Are you really able to quantify the differences between two grades > when you see the final result? Oh, certainly! > I ask it because I have to admit I'm unable to recognize a picture I > made with the orange of red (medium) filter a week after I made it. Do you do you own printing? I ask, because who knows... maybe the lab you use has some sort of equalizing automation built in. People who see my red-filter negs, pull pained faces and with trembling voice ask "what happened". I tell them to relax.... it was a filter, just a filter.... just keep breathing, it's alright. I would like to add that factor-5 red is a gorgeous filter for portraits. The skin becomes very soft and comes to look like porcelain. If you want a flattering portrait and aren't a fan of those banal soft-focus filters, then in black and white, the red filter is the way to go. The results inevitably lead to streams of ooooh's and aahhh's for me. Bernard. > > > -- > Jean-Claude Berger (jcberger@jcberger.com) > Systems and RDBMS consultant (MCSE) > Lyon, France > http://www.jcberger.com