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filters for Black & White film


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27 minutes ago, Michael Leake said:

What filters work for black and white film and why? Will color filters produce any results? I am experimenting to see what results I can get.

Have you tried google?

https://www.freestylephoto.biz/black-and-white-filters-tutorial

https://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/using-coloured-filters-in-black-and-white-photography

There are many more articles if you search...

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For what it's worth... If I were shooting a b&w movie, I would probably shoot in color and convert to b&w in digital color correction.  With this method one can create the effect of any color filter during the conversion so it's a lot more versatile.

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On 5/18/2019 at 2:10 AM, Bruce Greene said:

For what it's worth... If I were shooting a b&w movie, I would probably shoot in color and convert to b&w in digital color correction.  With this method one can create the effect of any color filter during the conversion so it's a lot more versatile.

Oddly enough, I think you'd be right if you're talking about film. I hear from some photographers that Portra 400 is an amazing b&w film.

But for digital, the Bayer filter gets in the way, and I'd personally shoot with a monochrome sensor. I'm considering buying monochrome converted versions of the cameras I use, as I shoot only b&w for some applications.

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Karim,  I do often shoot Portra for still photographs, and sometimes convert to b&w ?

It's only once and a while that I shoot b&w film these days...

I understand your point about the bayer sensor for conversion, but for color correction, mood and matching, I still think I'd go with the color capture as one can be much more precise about the conversion.  I'm willing to give up a little detail for that advantage.  If I were shooting with monochrome digital capture, I'd want a pretty wide variety of color filters on hand while shooting, which would make for some very very good images!

 

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If you like grain , then use BW stock. Color film does not produce the same grain structure as BW film. You can add digital grain to color converted to BW, but it is not organic and is more like a grain screen that is the same all over the image. 

For BW panchromatic shooting you can get by with a yellow, orange and red filter. Unless you need a green for foliage or skin tones. I like the orange filter as an all rounder. 

This was shot with an orange filter on a monochrome sensor.

 

bohemians-view-nyc-2016-daniel-d-teoli-jrlr.jpg

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6 hours ago, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

If you like grain , then use BW stock. Color film does not produce the same grain structure as BW film.

Unfortunately, Kodak’s b&w stocks haven’t been improved in the same way the Vision stocks have, and so they are essentially the same as they were 30 years ago. A lot of people today would find them excessively grainy and high contrast. If that’s what you’re after, fine, but if it’s not, then shooting color stock and creating the b&w look in post, where you have full control over the RGB channels is probably a better idea. If you want more grain than a Vision 3 stock has, you could underexpose and push a stop or so.

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......I would encourage you to use Eastman Double X as its beautiful to my eyes.....see my posts or watch a piece I did with it in this link:

a good way is go into photoshop....open a colour image...use a Black and White adjustment layer (layers palette).......that simulates the filters and what effects they have on greyscale images

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