Film Filters for B&W

[Tim Williams]

Looking into filters (red, yellow, orange) for B&W shooting. Does anyone have experience with these. I've never used any, but then again I have never shot landscapes in B&W. I have the OM2n loaded with HP5 and a 24 2.8 on the way. Thanks for any input on this as all I know is what I've read.

 

[Jim]

Filters are fun. You can spend big $$ on glass filters or you can spend a lot less on resin filters such as Cokin and the various clones. I'd start with a red or orange resin filter and see how you like that . These filters will darken blue skies and green leaves (not too many of them around right now!)

As a trial, you can simply hold a square resin filter in front of your lens. I've done a number of IR Shots that way when the old Konica IR film was available. It's not elegant, but it does work and doesn't cost much.

If you find filters help you be more creative, you can always spring for more elaborate setups

 

[MoonMind]

Lots of good resources online! The simplest description is here: Using coloured filters with black & white film

A couple links I found even more useful (and they're really all among the first I found!):
- Using Coloured Filters in Black and White Photography | Photography Mad
- Filters in Black and White Photography
- Black and White Filters Tutorial | Freestyle Photographic Supplies
- photo technique magazine » Filters for Black-and-White Photography

Hope this helps.

M.

 

[Tim Williams]

Thank you. I found a You Tube tutorial also. Looks like red and orange for starters.

 

[ChristoR]

TBH I'd start with yellow or orange rather than red. Yellow still gives you a reasonable effect with clouds, while orange is quite a bit stronger. Once you get onto the red filter, even with TTL metering you may have to add a stop because the red filter can affect the meter readings.

Red is good for very dark skies and high contrast clouds, just that little bit trickier to shoot with.

I always use screw-in rather than slot-in colour filters... but I've been lucky enough to shoot with manual Pentaxes where most of my lenses are 49mm thread...

 

[JoeLopez]

Looking into filters (red, yellow, orange) for B&W shooting. Does anyone have experience with these. I've never used any, but then again I have never shot landscapes in B&W. I have the OM2n loaded with HP5 and a 24 2.8 on the way. Thanks for any input on this as all I know is what I've read.

I've used a red filter on my Yashica Electro 35 GSN with a roll of Tri-X 400