Tiffen soft contrast filters

[John_4185]

May I suggest that Mr. Cook is describing a case where one has the opportunity to 'make' (pose) the picture rather than one who has to 'take' the picture. There is a difference. An extreme contrast would be wedding and combat photography. A less extreme would be weddings, studio shots and some photojournalism and newspaper photography. It should be clear, John, that one is not always controlling the circumstances, Hollywood be damned.

I suppose for photographs in the deep wild, a person could start a fire for light-fill... oops, someone already did that. Never mind.

[Mike Cockerham]

Looking at Tiffens website "SOFT CONTRAST filters diminish highlights while retaining the darker look of the shadows, hence a reduction in contrast. Although the Soft Contrast filter is a neutral gray, do not compensate for exposure." Comparing the examples it looks as if it is no more tha a ND filter, it brings down the highlights but also the shadows. The low contrast filter will open up the shadows by introducing flare into the image.

JJ I agree that if you are shooting on the run, news, action, documentary you cannot always control what is infront of you,but Philippe is talking LF shooting with a model on a preplanned outing. In this case I think John is corrrect your better off knowing how to control the light if by fill flash, reflector, schrims whatever you can use. This applies not only to forest situations but bright sun also.

Mike

[robert_4927]

John makes a very good point. In my studio you will find old mole-richardson fresnels from 250 watts to 2000 watts. There is no flash, just scrims, flags and reflectors. I schedule outdoor shoots according to time of day when I feel that the lighting will best fit my needs. And here again I only use scrims flags and reflectors. If I need soft boxes I'll punch a fresnel through a scrim but I do have a couple of mole soft lights that I use on occasion. I think younger photographers who don't know terms such as rembrandt, butterfly, and how to use directional lighting and simple modifiers are not truly understanding the meaning of painting with light. Of course hot lights can have their drawbacks but it is so much easier to teach someone about lighting when they can actually see what is taking place on the ground glass. If I need filters then I didn't do my homework. But if it's photojounalistic results you seek then by all means buy all the little gadgets your heart desires. But keep in mind no matter the gadget it will never take the place of knowledgable lighting techniques.

[Mark Woods]

Be careful with the soft cons. The effect on the image changes with the amount of ambiant lisht striking them. That is, in a bright environment, the soft con will affect the image more than if the lens is shaded or in a matt box. As a side note, the soft con is used in the Arri Varicon, which is a powered variable contrast tool placed in front of the lens. Is has a light source at the top that can be gelled and dimmed for effect.

Kind Regards,

MW

[John_4185]

Thanks for the nudge back to center, Mike. I was speaking of my experience with the filters, not to the original post. My error. FWIW, I sometimes use open bulb (flashbulb) off the camera outdoors. Beautiful, soft fill light. Down to a case or so of big bulbs Boo.

[Philippe Gauthier]

John Cook says a number of things that are absolutely right in many instances, but I think that he misses my point entirely. So let's give an example.

So suppose I am shooting a model in a forest on a bright sunny day. The forest ground is about 90-95% shadows, about 6-7 stops below full sun value. The remaining 5-10% are bright patches that get direct sun.

Now, if I sit my model in the shadows and expose for them, I'll get a good exposure on the model and 95% of the background forest, but there will be 5% worth of blown and distracting white patches, that I find annoying and that I'd like to avoid as much as possible.

If I use artificial or reflected light on the model, as John suggests, there are two possibilities. If I get enough light to bring the model to full sun values, 95% of my background forest will be in deep, zone minus something shadows and the few bright spots will be normally exposed. Il I add 3-4 stops of light on the model instead, I'll get a mix of very deep shadows showing minimal detail with a few highlights that will perhaps still show some detail - but I don't think this is a visually attractive balance.

The Hollywood solution would be to add light to the model and to light the entire background area as well, but as I am no Hollywood, with no money and no crew, we'll forget about this. Sorry John, but on this account I admit being lazy and lax.

Now, if we go back to my first case where I sit my model in the forest shadow and expose for this value, with 5% of my background being in full sun, how can I best minimize the visual impact of the bright patches, supposing that they're too dispersed to be manually burned under the enlarger? Is it better to use some special processing or is it better to use a soft contrast filter, if indeed this thing really works?

I am fully aware that the best option is "wait until the weather is cloudy and the light is more even", but this is not the issue here.

[robert_4927]

scrim the background light

[Eric Wagner]

I've been intending to get one of these filters and give it a try. I read about them in an article about metering titled "Artistically Weighted Averaging for Optimal Results" by Mark Dubovoy in the January/February 2004 issue of "PHOTO Techniques."

Working with a 4x5 camera Dubovoy wrote: "I realized the contrast range was going to be huge. I added a Tiffen #3 Ultracontrast filter and checked focus once more. This is an excellent filter that essentially brings the shadows up and the highlights down, compressing the brightness range by about 3 f-stops. It allows much better capture on film of the highlights and shadows, and is used extensively in the movie industry. Amazingly, it seems to add no flare and has no detectable effect on sharpness."

[robert_4927]

You can scrim the hot spots in the background and then use reflectors to fill in the dark areas. You can also use a reflector to add more light to your subject if needed. Try it both ways. One day when you're feeling energetic find you some old white bed sheets (scrims) and some white foam core(reflectors) and play with it. Trust me you'll see more scrims and reflectors on a professional shoot than you will see lighting production trucks. Then buy a soft contrast filter and shoot with it, I think you'll find that there is no magic bullet or in this case magic filter that will achieve what you want. You'll find seldom does lax and lazy fit in with the making of good photographs and if you ever enter into the world of ULF you'll find just setting up the camera requires work. Good luck

[Mike Cockerham]

Take a look at Tiffen Site http://www.tiffen.com/contrast_filters.htm. It sounds like the Ultra Contrast 5 is what you want to try. I qustion how much effect you will get in small bright areas. Sometimes you just have to say not today and reschedule.

Mike