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most common used b&w filter for cinematography


DaNiElE BeLArDo

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hello friends i m shooting a small noir sketch with interior shot with tungsten and exterior shot under a beech wood....generally which are the most common filter used for b&w cinematography?? (in particular for portraiture and interior)

 

many thanks

 

I haven't used many filters indoors, but outside the ones I use the most (when I use a filter at all) is a yellow K-2 and ND filters. The K-2 gives you more contrast in the sky IF there is blue present and also increases the contrast a bit.

 

Tom

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I usually use colored filters in B/W to lighten the tones of similar objects in the picture. So if I am photographing something with green in it, to make the end result a little better to my eye (more contrast) I will use a green filter on the lens. Also the use of colored filters may enhance certain complexions. Green filters sometimes help conceal skin blemishes, etc.

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Generally color filters are used less for interiors to alter contrast because you can use selective lighting to alter that -- for example, it's easier to use lighting to make skintones brighter or darker relative to some other object. Plus often people don't have the stop for a filter inside anyway.

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Hello.

 

You mention "portraiture", so you might consider a soft/diffusion type filter.

 

One thing is, you might get better advice (or at least, more specific advice) if you gave your anticipated workflow. Are you finishing on film, have you picked out your stock, are you cutting workprint, and so on. Also, is there a specific film that has a look you would like to emulate? I think the more you can say, the better the advice you will get.

 

hello friends i m shooting a small noir sketch with interior shot with tungsten and exterior shot under a beech wood....generally which are the most common filter used for b&w cinematography?? (in particular for portraiture and interior)

 

many thanks

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The warm colored filters are always nice to darken blue skies by various amounts. I would also keep the usual compliment of NDs and a pola. A regular old 85 is nice outdoors to darken skies and pop skintones, so I personally like a set of 85+NDs to shoot outdoors.

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The warm colored filters are always nice to darken blue skies by various amounts. I would also keep the usual compliment of NDs and a pola. A regular old 85 is nice outdoors to darken skies and pop skintones, so I personally like a set of 85+NDs to shoot outdoors.

 

Green filters can be very useful for lightening foliage and grass.

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Hello,

There are so many aspects to b&w film that can make your image/scene impact the viewer. You have at your finger tips vast

possibilities for contrast and tonal range through the use of light and the control of light. Think of it as "Painting With Light". I

like David Mullen's idea of lighting a face,portion of a scene in relation to other objects,people etc. in the scene. Other words

the use of light instead of filters. I'm thinking of some of the Orson Welles films(god bless him) as shot by Tolland. I just like

that beautiful glass of a lens conducting light to the film plane,without adding-on of a filter or the stacking of filters. Just pure

light to create the contrast,tonal range of a beautiful b&w scene. I envy those guys of a past generation of cinematographers

who "Painted With Light". Now I do this as a stills photographer in Light Room 2 and in Light Room 3 Beta. Through the use of

RGB channels. I miss the wet darkroom though,the smells,the appearence of a face in a tray full of solution. I think a lot of us

love film and light. Photography is really all about light and there is something holy,spiritual about using just light to create an

image/scene.

 

Greg Gross

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