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Re: [OM] BW filters, was 1/2000 rarely used

Subject: Re: [OM] BW filters, was 1/2000 rarely used
From: John Hudson <OM4T@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:51:12 -0400
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Norton" <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: [OM] BW filters, was 1/2000 rarely used


> >
>> OK, help me out there... been playing with filtered BW (in camera) for
>> kicks. The "help" button on the D90 says Green for restrained skin
>> tones, and caucasian skin looks horrible. Says Yellow for more
>> contrast in sky (or something like that), and that yields the best
>> looking portraits. Am I missing something? or am I photographing the
>> wrong skin tones under the wrong lighting (incand. for the most part).
>>
>
>
> I understand your confusion.  Let's back away from the digital camera very
> slowly...
>
> To understand what is going on, we must illustrate with the color-wheel
> using the three primary colors of Red, Blue and Yellow.  The opposite 
> color
> to Red is Green.

..................The opposite colour of red is cyan

>Opposite color of Yellow is Purple,

.................The opposite colour of yellow is blue

 the Opposite color of
> Blue is Orange.

.................The opposite colour of blue is yellow

and for good measure, green and magenta are opposites.

jh




 When you place a colored filter on the lens it will lower
> the brightness level of the opposite color as it literally is filtering 
> out
> (removing) that color.
>
> So, let's think about skintones.  Skin is pinkish/orangish with an
> underlying red.  If you place a red filter on the lens, the skin will
> effectively raise in value, while any vegetation in the background will go
> almost black.  However, if you place a green filter on the lens, the skin
> will darken and anything red will lighten.  Lips go dark with green 
> filters,
> lips go nonexistant with red filters.
>
> During the '40s, 50s and '60s, it was not uncommon to photograph men with
> green filters (when using panochromatic film) to give them a more 
> mascaline
> appearance and maintain maximum texture in the faces.  However, women were
> frequently photographed with an orange or even red filter to raise the
> skintones and give a smoother and more porceline appearance.
>
> Unfortunately, Red filteration causes excessive shifting of tones in the
> lips, eyes and sometimes hair-color.  Makeup becomes very important to 
> hold
> the lips and to provide adequate modelling to the face.  Yellow filters
> raise the skintones slightly, but don't shift the lips.  Orange is
> frequently a nice compromise.
>
> As mentioned, the coor of filter used will raise the value of any matching
> color in the scene. Let's say that a person has a nasty red scar across
> their face.  A green filter will darken that red scar and make it goulish.
> A red filter may actually cause the scar to completely disappear.  I use
> orange filters on Ilford Delta 400 when photographing teenagers as this
> combination will almost completely hide all zits and rashes.
>
> I've attempted to mimick this in post-production, and it does work, but 
> for
> a combination of reasons, I've found that the affect is only half there as
> compared to film. This is one area where I feel film responds better than
> digital.  In theory, it should be the same, but in practice it isn't.
> Without a scientific explanation to back me up, I am going to surmise that
> it has to do with the near-IR response characteristics of some films vs
> digital.
>
> AG
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