Provided that there are bands in the reflected spectrum of the foliage which are subject to the magenta attenuation of a green filter, yes - but a mere perceptual difference between orange and yellow does not mean there are.
Good b/w filtering of a natural subject can be quite different from a b/w conversion off a trichroic film, as many plant colours have quite strong discontinuities.
I have had some success using a magenta filter to darken green foliage. I suspect that it would render the pines quite dark and have little effect on the fall colors. It might darken the sky (if blue) more than you desire.
If you are new to filters for BW landscape contrast the very first to get are:
yellow - great to put a bit of separation into many scenes without a manipulated look. Starts to deepen skies and lighten autumn foliage
orange - Similar to above but stronger effect.
red - Pronounced deepening of skies - can look very artificial - or very interpretive depending upon one's viewpoint and purposes. Dramatic results.
green - Lightens greeen foliage and darkens skies.
blue - Lightens skies and darkens foliage - mimicks ortho / blue only sensitivitiy early films and plates. Exaggerates haze in atmosphere.
polarizer - can be very useful at correct orientation to skies, water, and glare on non-metalic objects.
Ansel Adam's wrote with great clarity on filters for BW.
Were it me, the first I'd get would be yellow and orange and polarizer. The red and green and blue are more specialized and generally see less use.
I'd buy really big ones and adapter rings to fit your various lenses. It can get expensive getting a full set for each darn size lens.
C
Interesting. Thanks Sevo.Originally Posted by Sevo
yes. good discussion here. I am always confounded by the green filter conundrum - specifically, why the green filter doen't lighten green foliage? I have come to the opinion that foliage radiates more red and infra-red than the human eye can percieve. Thus, the effect of the green filter is somewhat counterintuitive.
In passing, I'll note that I've been able to get pretty good results photographing fall color with the yellow-green filter (eg B+W 060 or, #11 ). I think that the film's spectral response charactereistics play important role too. I especially like TMY with fall foliage.
Last edited by BradS; 3-Dec-2008 at 15:48. Reason: add second paragraph.
I suspect you may be looking for a stronger response to the filter on green foliage. Most green foliage is less saturated than some other colors in landscape, and thus responds less strongly, but with a strong green filter and bright spring foliage, the foliage will lighten.
In my old copy of Ansel Adams' "Natural Light Photography" there are illustrated photographs of a color wheel shot through various filters. The image made with the Wratten B2 filter shows distinctly lighter areas in the green sector of the wheel.
C
A lot of great points have already been made.
I believe that for those of us who are not expert with black and white photography, there is nothing wrong with bracketing the use of filters and exposures, particularly if you have the time and come across a scene that has the potential to be one of your best photographs. Black and white photography and the use of filters is not as simple as those of us who are relatively new to black and white photography might think.
Trying different exposures may help with an incorrect EI, an incorrect compensation for the filter, or an incorrect compensation for reciprocity failure issues. If one underexposes an image, you will get a darker image in some of the areas you are trying to lighten. Overexposing too much may have the effect of making a less dramatic image than one is previsualizing that likewise can not be compensated for in printing.
Perhaps the biggest variables may have to do with the precise color temperature of the light hitting the particular color(s) of the subject and how that matches with the characteristics of the filter chosen and your previsualization. Have you ever taken a color photograph of a forest scene and noticed that the shadows in your color print seemed to be illuminated with a type of blue, shadowy, sunlight? Well with black and white film and a red filter that blue light may darken to the extent that all that usually important shadow detail will be lost
Also, for those of us who do not do much with developing, for example not relying on expansion or contraction techniques, this may also impact on the effect of the filter as well.
Out here on the Left Coast, under the redwoods, fall colors are pretty much limited to yellows. I use a yellow filter to make the yellow leaves jump out and be counted.
Vaughn
I think one piece of interesting information can be found on the web page of Heliopan. I link below to the 3 graphs showing the transmittance as a function of wave length.
Particularly for the green filter - one can also see that it suppresses red color a bit too.
Similar information about different types of filters can be found there too.
Source: www.heliopan.de
Matus
Interesting indeeed. My German is a little rusty....gelb is...yellow?
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