What effect does a green filter have with B&W film?

Question

I know that yellow or orange lens filters can be used to darken the sky and get more cloud detail. A red filter can be used to get a really dark sky, especially with a near-infrared film like Ilford SFX.

But what effect does a green filter have?

Does it lighten green colored subjects, like grass maybe? What other effects does it have? I've never used a green filter before.

What would be the useful effects it might have with black and white film? (or maybe even color film) Especially with landscape photos.

I'm looking at a green lens filter I might buy online, and I'm wondering if it would be useful.

Answer 1

Screwdriver was mostly right, but Edwin was correct about the result. Are you familiar with the color wheel? Yellow, Green, Cyan (light blue), Blue, Magenta, Red. And in the color wheel, these are the colors that are opposite to each other: Y-B, R-C, G-M.



So, a red filter will darken cyans (and let through red light). That is why a red filter is used to darken a daytime sky--it's almost always mostly cyan, not mostly blue. A yellow filter will slightly darken a daytime sky, since it will have a powerful effect on the blues in the sky (which comprise only a small percentage of the sky), but will have a much smaller effect on the cyans.



The same exact principle works for all the other colors. You want light greens? Then use a green filter (ie, lets greens through; blocks the magentas). Want your greens darker? Then use that magenta filter.



I know people that shoot landscapes often use green filters (we are still talking strictly about B & W film). I have not taken a Portrait Photography class in years, but I vaguely recall that green filters are also used by some portrait photographers, as it adds a pleasing touch to human skin.

Answer 2

Green Filter Black And White

Answer 3

All filters pass light of the same colour, holding back other colours.



So a green filter will overexpose the green (making it darker).



With a mild green filter the effect is to increase contrast in grass etc. A dark bottle green filter will burn grass etc. to black.



A red filter works because it holds back blue which means less burn out in bright skies and more detail. Anything red in the scene will be dark.



All this is so much easier with digital. Shooting in Raw and editing in 16bit you can really pull these files about. The B&W filter in Photoshop CS3 and CS4 can alter independently darker or lighter the red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow of a colour image. You can go from high key to low key, from 'misty and whispy' to downright 'Gothic' using different versions of the same image.



The above tool is global and lossless, but you can apply localised effects just as easily. Its amazing the detail (B&W is all about detail) you can pull out of these files when converting to B&W.



Chris

Answer 4

A green filter will lighten the color green and darken the color red.



A red filter will lighten the color red and darken the color green.



So if you're photographing a holly tree with red berries you need to decide which element is the one you wish to emphasize - the berries or the leaves - and choose your filter accordingly.



Here are a couple of sites that will be helpful:



http://www.vividlight.com/Articles/914.htm



http://www.fineart-photography.com/bwfilter.html

Answer 5

no it won't you'll see little or no effect. maybe some slight color shifts. what you need are some lens filters. the holga lens is threaded for filters so you can put pretty much anything they make on there. check the pawn shops or used section of a photo store. often you can find filters for cheap. and if it doesn't fit your holga you can buy step or step down ring to accommodate it.

Answer 6

joshesq is almost completely correct, however a green filter brings out flaws on the skin (they are mostly red..the opposite color) and was used to get that weather worn look in portraits.Not something women usually like.

Answer 7

I use green filters when shooting a brightly-lit scene in black & white; it makes the final image appear less "washed-out".