How to Use Filters in Black & White Photography

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Franc Anderson and I'd like to tell you something about using filters in black and white photography. First of all, let's look at how do you actually attach filters to your camera lens. The most economic way to do this is to choose a filter system. This is a relatively cheap filter system and this is the amateur version and here is the same system, but the professional version. As you can see, there's a considerable difference in filter size, this is because, some of the time, professional camera lenses have much bigger front elements than other lenses. Let's look at attaching the filter holder. The system comes with a set of rings which can be matched to the front elements threads. The ring simply slides into the holder, like so. Then it's screwed onto the front of the lens and the filters can just be slipped in. Let's have a look at the yellow filter. Of course these filters are only useful for black and white, since the color doesn't register. The filter has the effect of lightening those elements of the picture which are of the same color. So this yellow filter will cause yellow objects in your picture to become lighter. They can be use for this purpose of course, to lighten foliage, to make green look paler in a black and white picture. Often yellow filters however are use to darken a blue sky. Since they lighten yellow, they darken blue, because blue is the compliment of yellow. So yellow filters are often use to darken a blue sky. Green filters are use to lighten green foliage. Another very useful filter is a red filter. This has a very, very powerful effect on a blue sky and will darken the blue sky and give you a very, very dramatic effects, if a blue sky is combine with white clouds. The third most useful filter is a graduate filter, a gray graduate filter. This is extremely useful for controlling the brightness of the sky and leaving the scene underneath untouched. Filter systems like this have a huge advantage in that, you can look, screw the lens, slide the filter up and down and adjust the strength of the effect on where it takes place. So that you can slide the filter down until the dark part of the filter is line up, for example with the horizon, and now you have a sky which is considered to be darker but leaving the scene underneath untouched. This can be very, very useful."