how do i shoot green against blue?

[hazzayoungn]

mostly, how did ansel adams get that deep contrast ilke in this one?

http://www.anseladams.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=195

i was thinking a red filter, but im scared itll make the sky too dark

edit: also, im not too familiar with metering in black and white with filters. should i meter it like normal? or compensate a few stops up/down?

 

[Alex_B]

it is a question of the film you use I would guess.

I am not a B&W expert, but with colour slide film, the choice of film can make a huge difference for red-blue colour contrast.

 

[Big Mike]

Adams was a master in the dark room. It's not just what filters are used for the shot...it has a lot to do with the whole process.

Have you read Adam's books?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Red filters make the sky black.

 

[fmw]

Ansel Adams did it all in the darkroom with dodging and burning. I attended one of his week long photography symposia a long time ago. I watched him do it. It was amazing. I can assure you using filters won't help you reproduce a Adams print.

 

[hazzayoungn]

i should explain more...

i picked the ansel adams picture because the image i want to get was closest to that, and hes the first thing that pops into mind when i hear black and white, contrast and trees

what i meant was, is there any trick to get such high contrast between a tree and the sky while maintaining detail since using a red filter might make the leaves too dark, and i might have to step the exposure up a notch to compensate for it

or...are blue and green too close of colors that i should maybe leave the shot as is...

or...am i thinking too much

 

[table1349]

Ansel Adams did it all in the darkroom with dodging and burning. I attended one of his week long photography symposia a long time ago. I watched him do it. It was amazing. I can assure you using filters won't help you reproduce a Adams print.

fmw, Please notice the color of the text I am using. I think that explains the amount of jealously I am feeling right now. A whole weeK? What an education that must have been. Wish I could have been that lucky, just once.

 

[fmw]

i should explain more...

i picked the ansel adams picture because the image i want to get was closest to that, and hes the first thing that pops into mind when i hear black and white, contrast and trees

what i meant was, is there any trick to get such high contrast between a tree and the sky while maintaining detail since using a red filter might make the leaves too dark, and i might have to step the exposure up a notch to compensate for it

or...are blue and green too close of colors that i should maybe leave the shot as is...

or...am i thinking too much

Maybe. Why don't you put some filters together and find a good subject and shoot with the various filters. Then you will know what they do. Or, you can shoot in color, put the images into photoshop, convert them to B&W using the channel mixer and have access to infinitely variable filters to play with. That should help nail things down for you.

 

[fmw]

fmw, Please notice the color of the text I am using. I think that explains the amount of jealously I am feeling right now. A whole weeK? What an education that must have been. Wish I could have been that lucky, just once.

He wasn't there the whole time. He went on one shooting field trip with the group and spent two evenings in the darkroom coaching us. We had a number of instructors during the week.

Truthfully, he wasn't a very good teacher. However, just watching him work was an education all by itself. The group would go out and shoot and come back to the darkroom. There we would try to duplicate what he did there. We never could do it. He was just better at it than everyone else. We used the same paper, same chemicals, same enlarger same gobos but didn't get the same results. It wasn't hard to duplicate his compositions. It was a talented group and many of the negatives and compositions were first rate. It was impossible to make an Adams print out of them, however. We could make good prints but not quite like his although he could make Adams prints from our negatives.

His images have such impact, not because he waited around for the right light or sky. They weren't so moving because of the beauty of the subjects he shot. They were miracles of post processing. There have been many great photographic printers. He was one of the best if not the best of all of them.

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

I think we have covered the undisputed fact that Adams was a Master....and is pretty much impossable to reproduce to-day.

I assume you are shooting Mono Film....

Learn the zone system so that you think in zones when you look at a scene even before it becomes an image.
The film Adams used is no longer available to general release, so that is a stumbling block on its own. If you can get a good contrasty OLD emulsion like Tri-X it will help a bit.
The chemicals he used have long been superceeded by newer "Better" ones. But if you can still find some old recipes, you may make your own.

Filters like a dark RED, or even a polorizor are worth a try. Meter as normal with the filter in place. Although to be honest I have no idea if he used filters or not.

Print slightly hard (2 1/2 to 3 to start with) . Experiment, Fail, Experiment again, and again, and again. Learn the art of the dark room. Not just doging and burning. But what effects over / under processing and chemical washes, flashing etc will have.

Just as you start to get a little closer you will probably realise that Adams produced images that were what HE liked. Of a style that was fashionable in the 1940s era, And that maybe , rather that try to reproduce HIS images and style, You might be better off developing your own....Times move on and we already have an Adams. Maybe what we want NOW is a "Hazzayoungn"

 

[hazzayoungn]

lol thanks for the compliment

what i think ill try doing is taking a bunch of test shots with my p&s in black and white mode with filters stacked in front of it, and see if i get the effect i want

finally...a decent reason to have shooting modes on my camera...

 

[RacePhoto]

mostly, how did ansel adams get that deep contrast ilke in this one?

http://www.anseladams.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=195

i was thinking a red filter, but im scared itll make the sky too dark

edit: also, im not too familiar with metering in black and white with filters. should i meter it like normal? or compensate a few stops up/down?

One more thing, besides the fact that he was an amazing artist.

Ansel Adams used an 8x10 press camera. With a negative that large you would expect extra sharp images and very fine grain.

There has been a show on PBS that comes up now and then. At least it used to. I liked it so much that I bought the tape.

Interview and talking about how he worked. Some really funny stuff like Mr. Adams making a print, tearing it into a smaller size, then drying it in a microwave to see what it looked like dry. Then going back and adjusting his print.

Some of his prints were made using a self designed light box, full of light bulbs, that in effect made a contact print of the 8x10. No enlarger.

"Expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights."

Real simple version is that there are ten zones. Blackest black is 0 (total lack of density in the negative) Whitest White (the color of the paper) is zone 9. Zone 5 is Middle Gray.

Do a search for Ansel Adams Zone System.

 

[hazzayoungn]

Do a search for Ansel Adams Zone System.

interesting. read an article, skipped the part about aperture sizes *sigh

that makes alot of sense. itll probably also help with the picture im planning on taking (dark foliage against cloudy sky). im planning on shooting a roll with 100 speed or less...but thatll come later if the photo turns out well. ill keep that idea in mind though

the pbs american masters specials are always good. i saw the one on annie leibovitz and a guy from national geographic (name slips at the moment). both were superb

 

[Torus34]

1. Meter both highlights and shadows without the filter. Decide on your exposure. Apply the appropriate filter factor. Develop normally. Note: Filter factors are not f-stops. You have to convert them.

2. An orange filter will darken a blue sky without destroying shadow detail and will not lighten foliage excessively. Shadows are lit by the blue sky, you know. That's why they tend to block up with a red (25A) filter.

When in doubt, try the same shot with several filters. If you are working in roll film (35mm or 120), the additional cost is peanuts. In fact, if you're serious about 35mm b&w, go to bulk loading and definitely soup your own film. Bracket if your exposure readings suggest that you will exceed your film's range.

Take a quick read through the Film Exposure section of

http://www.thephotoforum.com/node/47