Question for yellow filter users: #8, #12 or #15?

[Benjamin]

I've been going through - and quite enjoying - Ansel Adams' Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs. I had never realized before how much he used yellow filters, a lot of #8 but also quite a few times the #12 (minus blue) with a few instances of #15.

So, just out of curiosity, amongst those here who also use them at a regular frequency, which is the one you use most, the #8, the #12 or the #15?

[Alan9940]

I wouldn't say I use any filters regularly, but of those 3 you listed my go to would be the #8.

[jim_jm]

For all-around shooting of B/W film, I'll frequently use a #8 Yellow to bump up contrast a bit, especially in overcast or flat light.
For landscapes, I like the darker #15 Yellow or Orange filters to enhance the skies and bring out any clouds. Sometimes Red #25 as well, depending on the scene.

[esearing]

It depends where you live. The sky in the west is a different color than in the east. Haze in the Blueridge Mountains is different than the haze in the deserts/mountains of Nevada and Utah. City skies are a different color than remote skies. Also take into account the color of foliage/trees. You may need orange vs yellow in the southeast US where our plants tend to be more yellow green than the dark greens of the northwest. Time of year my come into play for you in Canada too since you are closer to the northern pole. Maybe a warming filter or polarizer is all that is needed to bump contrast slightly or change tonal relationships. There is no right answer and it comes down to preferences.

[Benjamin]

It depends where you live. The sky in the west is a different color than in the east. Haze in the Blueridge Mountains is different than the haze in the deserts/mountains of Nevada and Utah. City skies are a different color than remote skies. Also take into account the color of foliage/trees. You may need orange vs yellow in the southeast US where our plants tend to be more yellow green than the dark greens of the northwest. Time of year my come into play for you in Canada too since you are closer to the northern pole. Maybe a warming filter or polarizer is all that is needed to bump contrast slightly or change tonal relationships. There is no right answer and it comes down to preferences.

Love this answer! I actually hadn't thought of that - and I should have, having been to Italy and Spain, where the "blueness" of the sky is so evidently different than here. I guess i assumed - the mind is lazy at times - that being in North America the lighting conditions Adams may have encountered in Yosemite (to take one obvious example) would more or less be the same as up here. This, as well as jim_jm's answer, also confirms my intuition that as far as filters are concerned it's better to have more than less in order to adjust to the situation.

Also confirmes my strong desire to go photo trekking out in the American West once this pandemic is over.

[Willie]

Another consideration is the film you use. TMax 100 will give a bit different result than FP4+ with the same filter.
Either test a bit and choose or use one. No matter what you use some will tell you it won't work, something else is better - whatever. As long as it gives you what you want you are OK.

[Drew Wiley]

Those are old Wratten gelatin filter numbers, and the selection of panchromatic films has itself changed. Sometimes in AA books you find the even older "K" classification of Wratten filters. I greatly prefer modern multi coated glass filters. Designation numbers differ somewhat between current manufacturers, but all of them, whether Hoya, or B&W, or any number of other brands, will offer a basic light yellow, a medium yellow-orange, and a reasonably dark red like a no. 25. But I would recommend also having on hand a distinctly GREEN filter; with this you can darken blue skies, yet not make reddish bricks or Southwestern sandstone appear unnaturally light and paste-like, like any of the yellowish or reddish filters would do. Since you have indeed mentioned a potential trip to the desert SW, it would be inconceivable to me not to carry a relatively deep green filter like a Hoya X1; I learned that the hard way long ago. And sometimes you might want to lighten foliage with a green filter, to make it appear more natural, since panchromatic films suppress green sensitivity somewhat.

My own minimalistic kit for sake of backpacking, for example, always includes a 22 deep orange, a 25 med red, and an X1 deep green. I carry a wider selection of filters for day hikes and road shooting; but can get along if necessary with only the three I just mentioned. Among the alternates would be a light yellow-green Hoya X0, similar to the old Wratten 11, being more versatile than plain yellow. In fact, I almost never carry a basic light yellow filter, sometimes light orange instead.

I've never been fond of polarizers. I want all the wonderful glare and sparkle that I actually see kept intact in the exposure itself.

The "blueness" of light itself has significantly changed in many places since AA's classic days, even at higher altitudes, and is seldom what I remember myself from my earlier days growing up in the mountains - far more power plant emissions, jet contrails, certainly forest fire smoke, smog itself from sprawling cities creeping up rather high in many places. And I am a person who likes to work with more than one film. The only way to juggle all these variables is to have a reasonable selection of filters on hand, like the minimalistic set I just mentioned. But don't go overboard and carry too many - I've seen that mistake too! You don't want to get distracted trying to figure out too many things at once. Three or four filters are generally adequate, at least until you discover special needs.

[Benjamin]

Thanks for the advice, Drew. And the personal recollections as well.

Green is an excellent idea. Adams does talk about how Edward Weston learned the hard way that a yellow-orange filter in the dunes would darken the sky but over-expose the reddish sand of the dunes he was trying to capture (his solution was to not apply the filter factor).