DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Why you might want to use red or other coloured filters with your digital camera

Sep 17, 2018 by John Aldred 2 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Coloured filters have been popular amongst black & white film photographers for decades. Typically, these are blue, red, orange, yellow and green. They help to increase contrast in skies and reduce the appearance of blemishes on skin, but are they still useful today with black & white digital?

That’s what photographer David Bergman explores in this video. He thinks that they are still valuable.

Sometimes, you know you’re shooting for black and white. And if you shoot with a black & white picture style in your camera, the filters can have a similar effect with digital to that which we see with black & white film.

The way coloured filters work is that they let in more of a certain type of coloured light (the colour of the filter) and block the opposing colours. With the red filter, for example, clouds contain a lot of red light because they’re pure white (when they’re lit by the sun). The clear sky, however, is blue. So, virtually nothing gets through.

This results in a lot of contrast in the sky. Bright clouds and dark where it would be blue. How the ground looks will depend largely on the colour of things on the ground, but your sky will be very contrasty.

Can you do this in post? Sure, absolutely. But the less time we need to spend sitting at the computer, the better, as far as I’m concerned. The only drawback of this method, though, is that while your raw files will still be “colour”, they will show the colour of the filter, not the original scene. You can still convert the raw files to black and white via a different method than your camera, but you’ll never have that full original colour shot.

I often use a yellowgreen filter (it sits somewhere between yellow and green, shockingly enough) when shooting black & white film. I find that it helps to even out skin tones, as well as brighten up grass and foliage for environmental portraits. I also often shoot my DSLRs with a black & white picture style (there’s a great TMAX one over on NikonPC).

I might have to bust out the coloured filters and give this a try the next time I want to shoot in-camera black & whites.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

When a $30,000 RED camera meets a red bowling ball who wins? It looks like RED will be the first to announce an RF mount video camera with the RED Komodo Using diffusion filters – LEE ‘Soft’ Filters 1 to 5 comparison test Here are four camera filters you (maybe) still need for digital photography

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Black & White, black and white, David Bergman, Filters, lens filters

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« This in-depth beginners guide shows everything you need to know about manual exposure
The ultimate 85mm lens shootout: comparing seven lenses from $99 to $4,500 »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • This year’s Nature TTL POTY winner puts global warming right in our faces
  • TTArtisan announces super-low-budget 500mm f/6.3 super telephoto lens
  • NASA reveals five photos of space objects invisible to human eye
  • Tamron’s 17-50mm f/4 Di III VXD lens ships in October
  • Facebook now lets you (legally) have multiple profiles

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy