Jeremy Ordan
08-26-2006, 05:24 PM
Well I don't know about anyone else but from my experience buying lenses gets really expensive really fast and I don't have an unlimited amount of income... Therefore I am a complete filter whore. The local camera shop near me carries an extensive collection of used filters, so at least once a week (or every other week) I try to make every possible effort to get by there to see what used filters they have added. Already I have built a pretty impressive collection of step-up rings, step-down rings, polarizers, ND filters, star light, diffusion, b&w enhancers, UV... does anyone care? Didn't think so.... Continuing then:
So today I was in the store and they had a nice collection of used 67mm colored filters in Orange, Green, & Yellow. I dropped my $25 and left with three almost new filters in hand and a burning curiousity (I hope it was the curiousity that was burning, otherwise I need to hit the doctor immediately) to see the different results in the colored filters.
Now, I was already very experienced in using an Orange filter when shooting studio type shots to increase the contrast of an image once it was either desaturated or once it had a b&w gradient map applied in Photoshop, but with the Green & Yellow I was a complete neophyte. I identified four specific types of shooting conditions that I was curious about: flourescent interior lights, natural light indoors, natural light outdoors with bright sunshine, and natural light outdoors with heavy shadows. I locked my camera down and shot duplicate shots with no filter, then green, then yellow, and finally orange. I was also curious to see the results on a person, so I applied that for my interior natural lighting.
I then dropped everything into Photoshop, resized and started checking out the results. What I present here, for anyone curious about colored filters and how they affect an image either in color or processed down to black and white either through the gradient map function or through a complete desaturation are my results. This is a 3 minute (15meg) video that shows all the results. It goes by quickly so you might need to pause at the conclusion to compare the results but essentially it outlines:
1. Flo Light, Natural Light, Sunshine, & Shadows with No filter, Yellow Filters, Green filters, & Orange filters
2. Taking these results and applying Photoshops Auto Color, Auto Contrast, & Auto Levels
3. Taking these images and desaturating them in Photoshop
4. Taking these images and applying a gradient map tool in Photoshop.
I thought about also shooting some polarizer shots in this mix, but honestly if you don't know what a polarizer does then this test isn't going to show you much.
I will try to get just my 4x4 results posted later on, but in the mean time, here is the video outlining exactly what effect a colored filter can have on your image (and why filters are important because Photoshop can only go so far with the ORIGINAL image)
My unofficial conclusion is very simple: I wish I had bought these filters in 72mm instead of 67mm so I could apply this to my DVX.
Enjoy
Jeremy's Colored Filter Test (http://www.stffilms.com/Movies/Jeremy%20Ordan.wmv)
-Jeremy
So today I was in the store and they had a nice collection of used 67mm colored filters in Orange, Green, & Yellow. I dropped my $25 and left with three almost new filters in hand and a burning curiousity (I hope it was the curiousity that was burning, otherwise I need to hit the doctor immediately) to see the different results in the colored filters.
Now, I was already very experienced in using an Orange filter when shooting studio type shots to increase the contrast of an image once it was either desaturated or once it had a b&w gradient map applied in Photoshop, but with the Green & Yellow I was a complete neophyte. I identified four specific types of shooting conditions that I was curious about: flourescent interior lights, natural light indoors, natural light outdoors with bright sunshine, and natural light outdoors with heavy shadows. I locked my camera down and shot duplicate shots with no filter, then green, then yellow, and finally orange. I was also curious to see the results on a person, so I applied that for my interior natural lighting.
I then dropped everything into Photoshop, resized and started checking out the results. What I present here, for anyone curious about colored filters and how they affect an image either in color or processed down to black and white either through the gradient map function or through a complete desaturation are my results. This is a 3 minute (15meg) video that shows all the results. It goes by quickly so you might need to pause at the conclusion to compare the results but essentially it outlines:
1. Flo Light, Natural Light, Sunshine, & Shadows with No filter, Yellow Filters, Green filters, & Orange filters
2. Taking these results and applying Photoshops Auto Color, Auto Contrast, & Auto Levels
3. Taking these images and desaturating them in Photoshop
4. Taking these images and applying a gradient map tool in Photoshop.
I thought about also shooting some polarizer shots in this mix, but honestly if you don't know what a polarizer does then this test isn't going to show you much.
I will try to get just my 4x4 results posted later on, but in the mean time, here is the video outlining exactly what effect a colored filter can have on your image (and why filters are important because Photoshop can only go so far with the ORIGINAL image)
My unofficial conclusion is very simple: I wish I had bought these filters in 72mm instead of 67mm so I could apply this to my DVX.
Enjoy
Jeremy's Colored Filter Test (http://www.stffilms.com/Movies/Jeremy%20Ordan.wmv)
-Jeremy