I'm working on a project where I'm trying to achieve a slight dreamy, fairly tale-esque look something similar to Jaromil Jires' "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" and to a lesser extent, Louis Malle's "Black Moon". Since I'm shooting on a Canon 7D I'm using this opportunity to explore the use of filters to get a unique look out of the camera. Unfortunately information out there on the subject is sparse and a bit spotty. Perhaps many people see the use of filters as obsolete, which some possibly are (many color corrective filters), or because people would rather achieve the "look" in post.
So my question is what filters, if any at all, do people find useful and for what purposes? What "look" have you achieved with them.
Here's the little info I've sort of assembled myself, not at all experiential since I just received my first few filters for testing in the mail the other day. Anyway, please let me know if I'm wrong on any of this, as this is just my impression, and please add any of your knowledge and experiences:
Black Pro-Mist - especially with the lighter densities, seems to be the highest regarded for "softening" the digital look, while retaining the blacks. The 1/8 and 1/4, seem to be suggested for adding a little bit of "softness" but with out the image looking filtered.
Ultra-Contrast Filter - lowers contrast in the image by spreading light from the highlights into the blacks. The Ultra-Contrast filter seems to do this the most uniformly, so there is less obvious flare and halation from the highlights. Don't know where the sweet spot for this filter is, as far as density goes, where it is most effective while still being "invisible". There is also regular Low Contrast and Soft Contrast, what ever they are.
Fog, Double Fog, Soft/FX, Pro-Mist, Softnet Black, Softnet White, Diffusion, Black Diffusion, Gold Diffusion, Digital Diffusion/FX, Glimmer Glass, etc. - all of these seem to me to be variations and different formulations of a similar concept - diffusing the image. Some seem to add a bit of warmth (Gold Diffusion, Warm Pro-Mist), some seem to retain contrast others lower contrast, some add more or less halation in the highlights. Frankly, I'm not sure what the difference is between most of these... any input would be nice.
Lastly, there are other various specialty filters, which probably have little or at least a lessened interest to digital video shooters (but maybe I'm wrong!), like Enhancing filters (makes reds "pop" - for landscapes), Star filters (adds kinda cheesy star shaped reflections from lights and bright highlights, but I see this all the time in sports), and others of various usefulness.
By the way, a Haze filter does not add diffusion and "atmosphere", but rather cuts out the haze that can be caused by UV light. I just wasted money realizing this.
So my question is what filters, if any at all, do people find useful and for what purposes? What "look" have you achieved with them.
Here's the little info I've sort of assembled myself, not at all experiential since I just received my first few filters for testing in the mail the other day. Anyway, please let me know if I'm wrong on any of this, as this is just my impression, and please add any of your knowledge and experiences:
Black Pro-Mist - especially with the lighter densities, seems to be the highest regarded for "softening" the digital look, while retaining the blacks. The 1/8 and 1/4, seem to be suggested for adding a little bit of "softness" but with out the image looking filtered.
Ultra-Contrast Filter - lowers contrast in the image by spreading light from the highlights into the blacks. The Ultra-Contrast filter seems to do this the most uniformly, so there is less obvious flare and halation from the highlights. Don't know where the sweet spot for this filter is, as far as density goes, where it is most effective while still being "invisible". There is also regular Low Contrast and Soft Contrast, what ever they are.
Fog, Double Fog, Soft/FX, Pro-Mist, Softnet Black, Softnet White, Diffusion, Black Diffusion, Gold Diffusion, Digital Diffusion/FX, Glimmer Glass, etc. - all of these seem to me to be variations and different formulations of a similar concept - diffusing the image. Some seem to add a bit of warmth (Gold Diffusion, Warm Pro-Mist), some seem to retain contrast others lower contrast, some add more or less halation in the highlights. Frankly, I'm not sure what the difference is between most of these... any input would be nice.
Lastly, there are other various specialty filters, which probably have little or at least a lessened interest to digital video shooters (but maybe I'm wrong!), like Enhancing filters (makes reds "pop" - for landscapes), Star filters (adds kinda cheesy star shaped reflections from lights and bright highlights, but I see this all the time in sports), and others of various usefulness.
By the way, a Haze filter does not add diffusion and "atmosphere", but rather cuts out the haze that can be caused by UV light. I just wasted money realizing this.
Last edited:
