making filter decisions?

[stradibarrius]

What filter would you recommend to bring the "blonde" color of the spruce and maple to life? I would like to be able to see more of the fingure in the wood.

[Gem Singer]

Hi,Barry,

With B&W film, I would use a yellow 2 filter.

[stradibarrius]

Thanks...someone on another forum suggested a green filter but I didn't think the green would really do much with this type subject in B&W.

[Holdenrichards]

Actually I was going to say green. Green works well with subtle tones on or in whites.

[N Dhananjay]

Filters are a way to control local contrast. The figure in a wood like maple tends to be low to begin with and one might argue that that is exactly what gives it its characteristic look. However, assuming you want to increase the contrast to make the figure stand out more.... The light wood is yellow in color and will be lightened by yellow filters and darkened by blue/cyan. The darker areas of the wood are brown which is a notoriously difficult color to determine the hue. Basically, destaurated yellows, reds and greens can all look brown. My own sense is that maple tends to have a brown that leans towards the green side of the spectrum - note that this is a huge and unwarranted generalization, different planks can exhibit quite different colors. Green is obviously lightened by green and darkened by something in the red/magenta side.

So to emphasize the figure (i.e., lighten the yellow and darken the green (?), I would say something in the yellow/magenta range of filters would be appropriate. The one which works best is going to be difficult to predict precisely. Yellow would lighten the yellow but not darken the green as much, whereas magenta would darken the green appreciably while lightening the yellow less. Much will depend on the specific specimen you have got.

Cheers, DJ

[AJ Edmondson]

You can get a fairly decent approximation by viewing through s Wratten 90 filter (sort of a tobacco-color) and the various colored filters... though you would probably need to use fairly strong lighting.

Joel

[Jim Noel]

Strong lighting is not needed, in fact it would be a detriment. Long exposures tend to increase contrast, which is what is desired in this case.

[JeRuFo]

With such a limited palette all you can do is see what colors are in your shot and if you can lighten or darken one of them with a filter. You can probably only affect all the wood with a color filter. I would look in the direction of a lighting and development combination rather than a filter.

[C. D. Keth]

Strong lighting is not needed, in fact it would be a detriment. Long exposures tend to increase contrast, which is what is desired in this case.

I think he meant for viewing, to see through a wratten 90 and your choice of other filter(s).

[Jim Jones]

Avoid surface reflections. A polarizer may help with some lighting.