Filter comparisons

[Xia_Ke]

I've been working lately with filters and b&w. This is a series I shot using various filters. The first is a Green filter, the second is a Red Polarizing filter, and the third is an Orange filter. In hindsight I wish I had taken a shot without filters for comparison. Just curious as to which everyone thinks works best in this situation. These are all unaltered other than converting to grayscale in PS.

[Frog]

My non pro eye would say the first with the green filter is best.
The red seems to make everything dull, while the orange makes the background dull.
I can neve remembe which filter is supposed to do what.

[Xia_Ke]

That's what I was thinking too frog but, an acquaintence was saying that they thought the third worked the best. Personally I like heavy contrast but, I know some like smoother transitions in tones so I second guess myself a lot.

[Greg McCary]

I always thought that red worked for clouds. I do feel #1 is the best, but the sky is blown out some. I don't think that this picture is a good test subject. You need a more partly cloudy day I would think. Also a subject with a more contrasting difference. Buildings with a dramatic sky and some trees and water would work.
Greg

[starriderrick]

Is grey scale the same as B/W? I thought you were shooting in B/W? I'm curious why you had to convert to greyscale. That's only 8 bit if I'm not mistaken, tonally very flat. Do tell.Very interesting.

[Xia_Ke]

I always thought that red worked for clouds. I do feel #1 is the best, but the sky is blown out some. I don't think that this picture is a good test subject. You need a more partly cloudy day I would think. Also a subject with a more contrasting difference. Buildings with a dramatic sky and some trees and water would work.
Greg

From the little time I have spent playing with filters, I have liked red the best. This spot was by no means meant to make for a good shot. I was just out hiking and thought it would make for a good spot to compare the filters, as a good tonal range and good contrast would be needed to make all elements stand out.

Is grey scale the same as B/W? I thought you were shooting in B/W? I'm curious why you had to convert to greyscale. That's only 8 bit if I'm not mistaken, tonally very flat. Do tell.Very interesting.

I guess grayscale could be considered the same as black & white. Unfortunately, I don't know much of he technical aspects of it all, YET. I use a Nikon D50 and it has no black and white mode, so all images I take have to be later converted in Photoshop.

[livin4lax09]

grayscale is very very different from black and white, if you're talking about shooting black and white film. there are tutorials for how to convert for a true black and white look, and it all has to do with altering the different color channels. Google it and you should get some interesting articles on it. grayscale is really just...grayscale. Turns everything grey, and lacks the real pop that b&w film has with its rich blacks and bright whites.

[MarcusK]

Hey,

When shooting digital, using color filters is, in my opinion, somewhat pointless... Shoot always RAW, and then do the work in the your digital darkroom...

I do agree that there are many ways to change to true B&W, but greyscale is not the best choice... I would suggest you de-saturate your image, fix levels and use the curves adjustment... this should do it... you will need to practice to see which one works best and for what...

As for the three images here, i would say #1 for the same reasons mentioned.

Oh... and jpeg is 8 bit/channel... so whenever you finish from converting RAW and are about to post online (so no TIFF) you automatically are taken to 8 bit/channel mode... Greyscale, is one channel, so yeah....the last thing you wanna do is go greyscale...

Hope this helps,

Marc

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks Brent and Marc I did some searching based on your suggestions and came across this tutorial... http://www.bythom.com/bandw.htm . Is this what you were referring to? I'll have to give it a shot. I also came across several plug-ins for b&w conversion. Anyone have any experience with Convert to B&W Pro from http://www.theimagingfactory.com/ or with Power Retouche's B&W Studio Plug-in http://www.powerretouche.com/Black-w...troduction.htm ?