Shooting with an orange filter

[ahelg]

I got some free Delta 400 film with a magazine today and thought I'd try it out tomorrow. Now I've never used B&W film before so a few questions.

I heard that using exposure compensation at around -1/2 will give me darker slightly more dramatic images. True?

I've got an orange filter lying around. What does this do, and would I benefit from using it while photographing durham cathedral?

I've heard that exposure compensation is necesarry when using a filter, as less light gets throug. Won't the meter compensate for this?

 

[Digital Matt]

Negative film benefits more from overexposure, not underexposure. You should always expose for shadow detail, develop for the highlights. Most often, photographers shooting color slide film will underexpose by a 1/2 stop to render the colors a bit more saturated. I take it though that you won't be developing and printing this yourself. No matter what you do, you should bracket your exposures. Try a 1/2 under, but also try up to a stop over.

An orange filter will add contrast to your scene. Oranges and reds in the scene will pass through the filter and be given more exposure, will opposite colors, like cyans and blues will appear darker. Your blue/cyan skies will appear darker. If you are photographing the outside of a cathedral, it might be usefull to darken the sky. Don't shoot during midday. Your most successfull photos will come in early morning, or late evening (just before sunset).

As for compensating for the filter factor, as long as it is on the lens and you are metering through the lens, your meter will be affected by the filter, and you can meter normally.

 

[ladyphotog]

Don't worry about bracketing, you are shooting negative film, therefore you can adjust with printing. And you want to shoot for the shadows and print for the highlights, don't adjust the development of your negs for the highlights. Just meter correctly and you will have correctly exposed negs. Most prints will need some burning and dodging to have perfect prints, if you overexpose you will need more of that. To be honest an orange or red filter can be a little heavy. I would use it on some and not on others. Also, if you have a polarizer you can use that also with the black and white. It will darken your sky and help with the detail in architecture, especially with churchs because they are usually the same material all over and usually on the light side. Good shooting.

 

[ironsidephoto]

yellow filters also do this.

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

Shot the film at the speed recommended by the manufacturer. Thay spend a lot of money finding out the best general exposure for the product. When you have shot a few rolls and know the film intimately, you can adjust to suit your own requirements. Dev the film using the recomended time, chemicals, methods and again adjust later when you are familiar with the film. Filters are a personal thing... If you shoot without a filter you will get the best general all round exposure. But you may want something different... so when you have shot a few rolls as recommended, you can experiment with filters. (My mono preference is Kodak Tri-X and a red filter. but everyone is different). If you want to go with Mono film. try a couple of rolls of each different film and find one you like. Then start experimenting with the filters/ exposures/ deving/ printing etc etc.

 

[Digital Matt]

Hi all,

I'm a beginner in this domain but i want to learn a lot.
I have a Konica-Minolta Dimage Z20 and i want to know if i can use a circular polarizing filter on this digital camera.
10x.

Why don't you start your own thread then?

 

[LaFoto]

I started the new thread in Maska's stead, Matt .

 

[Digital Matt]

Thank you Corinna