JORDANBU
TTERSORIGINALIMAGE UNFILTERED MONOCOLOURFILTERS FORMONOCHROMEIMAGES
YELLOW:Oneofthemostpopularblack& white
colourfilters.Increasescontrast,darkensblueskies
slightlyandreduceshazeandfog.Lightensgreens,
yellows,orangesandredssois idealforlandscapes.Also
offers natural black & white reproduction of skin tones.ORANGE:Theeffectsofanorangefiltersitbetween
thoseofyellowandredfilters.There’sa mediumboostin
contrastandcloudswillpopfromblueskies,whilstfoliage
is rendersniceandbright.Skintonesaresmoothed and as
such it’s a complementary filter for portraits.GREEN:Quitespecialisedin itsuses,a greenblack&
whitefilterwilllightengreensandyellowsdrasticallyand
darkenreds.Usefulwhenshootingscenescontaininga
lotofdarkfoliagealongsidebrightflowerssuchaswith
black & white nature close-ups and macro images.BLUE:Probablytheleastpopularoftheblack& white
colourfilters,a bluefilterwilllowercontrastacrossthe
imageanddarkenmostcolourswiththeexceptionof
blue.Canbeusedtoboosthazeormist to add
atmosphere to certain scenes.RED:Oneofthemoreextremeblack& whitecolour
filters.It boastssimilareffectstoa yellowfilterbutwith
dramaticallyexaggeratedresults.Skiesrenderasalmost
blackandcontrastis boostedsignificantly.Redfilters can
cause some TTL metering systems to struggle.B
ACK WHENBLACK& WHITEfilmwasevery
photographer’smainstay,colourfilterswere
commonplacein photography.Thesesitin frontof
yourlens,muchlikeanyotherfilter,andconverthow
certaincoloursappearin black& white– theyarea purely
opticalmethodofcontrollingmonochrometonalityand
contrastat thepointofcapture.Coloursthesameas,or
closetothecolourofthefilterwillappeara lightershade
ofgrey,whereascoloursoppositeonthecolourwheel
willdarken.Forexample,anorangefilterwouldhavethe
effectofdarkeninga bluesky,asbluesitsopposite
orangeonthecolourwheel.Differentfiltersalsoaffect
contrastdifferently– a yellowfilterwillboostcontrast
marginally,whilea redfilterboostsit dramatically.
Nowadaystheeffectsofblack& whitecolourfilterscan
beemulatedduringpost-processing,whilemany
modelsofcameraoffertheabilitytoaddthefilters
digitally during preview (via LiveView) or capture.July 2019DigitalSLR Photography 53