Most useful colour filter for black and white landscapes

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Nebular89

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I like a dark sky against clouds for landscapes. I have a polariser which helps but I want a colour filter too. I was thinking about an orange more than a red, from what I’ve seen an orange would be the most useful most of the time.
But as I’m coming from digital any input would be welcome.
I’m using Fomapan 100 at the moment. Hopefully with some delta 100 once I get to grips with 4x5 more
 
If your aim is to darken skies, then red or orange would be arguably the best choice, with orange being more generally useful. I have red, orange, a couple of greens, and a couple of yellows (plus a blue...) to give a full range of choice.

Filters darken their complementary colour, but two things to bear in mind are that colours in nature are not pure, and there can be unexpected side effects. Skylight is blue (it is sky light after all), so a red filter will darken shadows (more than an orange one will). Foliage strongly reflects IR light, so by the time you reach a red filter, you may find some greens are lighter rather than darker.

Ilford reckon that a yellow/green filter provides the best approximation to how our eyes see. Ansel Adams often used a minus-blue filter (a specific shade of yellow) for his landscapes.

And I prefer green to lighten foliage and slightly darken skies.

There's a lot that can be said (and several books have been written) on the different filters you can use for black and white and why.

Just looked at Peter's link. A good summary. And as a shameless plug (but mainly it stops me typing more :))

 
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StephenM said:
If your aim is to darken skies, then red or orange would be arguably the best choice, with orange being more generally useful. I have red, orange, a couple of greens, and a couple of yellows (plus a blue...) to give a full range of choice.

Filters darken their complementary colour, but two things to bear in mind are that colours in nature are not pure, and there can be unexpected side effects. Skylight is blue (it is sky light after all, so a red filter will darken shadows (more than an orange one will). Foliage strongly reflects IR light, so by the time you reach a red filter, you may find some greens are lighter rather than darker.

Ilford reckon that a yellow/green filter provide the best approximation to how our eyes see. Ansel Adams often used a minus-blue filter (a specific shade of yellow) for his landscapes.

And I prefer green to lighten foliage and slightly darken skies.

There's a lot that can be said (and several books have been written) on the different filters you can use for black and white and why.

Just looked at Peter's link. A good summary. And as a shameless plug (but mainly it stops me typing more :))

Click to expand...
Interesting, I’ll give it a read.
My only experience of colour filters is in silver fx pro. I like the skies that red can give but at least in that program it could start to look a little intense everywhere else, that’s why I thought an orange with a polariser when needed would be a good compromise. But I hadn’t really given much thought to a green filter.
I definitely suffer with choice paralysis so I usually prefer to take out limited gear, I find what I take is usually better for it.
 
Another vote for orange, thats what I normally used. Red gives a stronger effect but a bit too strong unless your after a dramatic effect.
 
StephenM said:
If your aim is to darken skies, then red or orange would be arguably the best choice, with orange being more generally useful. I have red, orange, a couple of greens, and a couple of yellows (plus a blue...) to give a full range of choice.

Filters darken their complementary colour, but two things to bear in mind are that colours in nature are not pure, and there can be unexpected side effects. Skylight is blue (it is sky light after all), so a red filter will darken shadows (more than an orange one will). Foliage strongly reflects IR light, so by the time you reach a red filter, you may find some greens are lighter rather than darker.

Ilford reckon that a yellow/green filter provides the best approximation to how our eyes see. Ansel Adams often used a minus-blue filter (a specific shade of yellow) for his landscapes.

And I prefer green to lighten foliage and slightly darken skies.

There's a lot that can be said (and several books have been written) on the different filters you can use for black and white and why.

Just looked at Peter's link. A good summary. And as a shameless plug (but mainly it stops me typing more :))

Click to expand...
As you excellently said and using filters is more horses for courses, but in my B/W days and for general landscapes used Yell/grn filter and tried not to take shots in the midday sun when areas can look flat and with no contrast. and one reason I like colour is the same areas can stand out more esp with different colour foliage.
 
Don't forget the filter factor, IIRC 1 stop yellow, 2 stops orange, 3 stops red. Even with TTL metering, on some older cameras you might need to add a stop with a red filter, as the meters didn't always work as well in the red area.

I've been mostly using yellow recently, but that was after about 2 years with an orange stuck on the front!
 
My go-to filters for B&W landscapes are Yellow, orange and red.
 
I shoot Delta, and Acros when it was available.
I have an orange, red and a graduated red.
Both films are panchromatic but the Acros was a magnitude darker with a red than the Delta.
I found Acros difficult to meter with a red because of this, there is a stop factor obviously but generally I found it tougher to keep the highlights under control in bright sunlight.
Faces go a bit pastey, sandstone lost detail and whites can blow, I had to bracket but the balance is there if you can find it, its effect is dramatic.
We're not always looking for drama though.
It would be interesting to see how Foma handles a filter vs delta, or at least the ease at which it meters..:)
 
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