Filters, questions. Processing.

Oldbones

Oldbones

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Edit My Images
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I am now doing more film photography.
Take the photograph, send it away, get it processed and scanned, receive the scans and negatives.
Do some basic edits and post them on here.
So when I edit them on my edit program I don't really have as much choice as when I use digital.
One aspect is the filters, I cant do it in post.
I bought some,, yellow and red, I have a gradient ND filter and some UV filters.
So, Yellow filter, is it a good idea to just keep it on the lens all the time ?
Red filter if I want proper drama with the sky I would use it, but what else can I use it for ?
UV filters, as I do a lot of monochrome and hight contrast, do they really stop glare etc?
ND graduated filter, can it be used with film, and what for, I have never used it, should I experiment ?
Soon I will make the attempt to proceeds my own films, I have most of the gear now,
I have some negatives which were from my first roll of film, Can I use them to practice scanning etc?
Just started with this so It will be a steep learning curve.
 
Oldbones said:
I am now doing more film photography.
Take the photograph, send it away, get it processed and scanned, receive the scans and negatives.
Do some basic edits and post them on here.
So when I edit them on my edit program I don't really have as much choice as when I use digital.
One aspect is the filters, I cant do it in post.
I bought some,, yellow and red, I have a gradient ND filter and some UV filters.
So, Yellow filter, is it a good idea to just keep it on the lens all the time ?
Red filter if I want proper drama with the sky I would use it, but what else can I use it for ?
UV filters, as I do a lot of monochrome and hight contrast, do they really stop glare etc?
ND graduated filter, can it be used with film, and what for, I have never used it, should I experiment ?
Soon I will make the attempt to proceeds my own films, I have most of the gear now,
I have some negatives which were from my first roll of film, Can I use them to practice scanning etc?
Just started with this so It will be a steep learning curve.
Click to expand...

Depending on the editing software and the type of scan, you can edit film scans to quite a large degree, especially TIFF or RAW files. If your scans are JPEGs then the amount of editing will be quite limited though.

This page gives a good explanation (with visuals) on different colour filters with black and white images:
An ND grad filter is used to darken part of the image without affecting the colour (although cheaper filters sometimes give a slight colour cast). The obvious example of their use is to avoid overexposing the sky in a scene. Modern digital cameras can often get away without the use of ND grad filters due to the dynamic range captured and the ability to edit and mask different parts of the results in editing software. Film is sometimes not as forgiving - especially slide film, so ND grad filters are still beneficial in certain cases.

This page gives an overview of ND grad filter use: https://digital-photography-school....al-density-filters-for-landscape-photography/

Yes, you can practice scanning with any film as long as your scanner will take the format.
 
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If shooting B&W you should expect to get a "paper base" white and a sold black in a normal contrast image without using filters. Commercial processing of B&W films really gives this as they tend to job all types of film together whereas FP4 and HP5 for example benefit from different times etc.

Once developing is giving normal negatives yellow, orange and red will increase contrast i.e. reduce the number of grey shades between white and black. Some people do like to use a yellow all the time. Orange is more extreme and red should really be regarded as a special effects filter in B&W photography. Many times, people would come in store and ask for a red filter as they had low contrast images and we would have to explain the above. Interestingly when an auction house photographs furniture in B7W they will use a red filter as it enhances patina in wood.

UV only really made a difference to the images in the days of simple uncoated lenses, today they are really just for protection.



ND grad can be useful to balance extremes of brightness in a scene. If the sky is three stops brighter than the land you can expose for one or the other or use an ND grad to lower the sky value to or nearer to the land.



If you are getting B&W films developed commercially I would always suggest using XP2 as this is a C41 process film which is a standardised process and gives the best results for the lowest price.
 
Red filters can help reduce both skin lividity (over rosy cheeks/noses) and spots in portraits. (On B&W, of course!)
 
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