On filters and exposure for B&W landscapes

[Shen45]

This forum has a real wealth of talent and experience so I was wondering if you could share your technique for exposing and developing using black and white film corrected with filters.

As an example and assuming you know the correct factor for the filter how do you use a red filter in a landscape with bright white clouds. Do you develop normally or compensate in some way? Do you apply this same method to less contrasty filters?

My question is based on tradition wet printing.

[Leigh]

Apply the filter factor as given by the manufacturer to the exposure.

Development is the same regardless of whether or not you use filters.

- Leigh

[Shen45]

Thanks Leigh. That is the standard view however I'm sure it will not be the only view.

[ic-racer]

What Leigh said. With today's B&W films, I don't use filters for the sky much at all unless I want a wierdo look. Usually burning the sky when printing is all that is needed.

[Bill Burk]

Search this site for threads that contain "Hutchings Factors".

It's a list of factors that one teacher recommended to apply AFTER taking meter reading through the filter.

So for example, after metering through a certain red filter, open up two stops.

Same net result as using a 3 stop factor in the first place, because a lot of reports were that meters were only seeing the red filter as one stop.

So Leigh is still right...

If you are thinking of metering through the filter and leaving it at that... Don't. That doesn't work. If you feel uncertain because you used to get a lot of underexposed red filter shots back in the day... Maybe you were using an SLR with through-the-lens metering.

[Ken Lee]

Ansel Adams does a good job explaining in his books, and he shows photos to illustrate.