PHOTO FILTERS. A polarizing filter can darken a blue sky so that white clouds will really stand out.

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1 BG ( u POTO o. Te secret ingredient to many a dynamite poto by Jack and Sue Drafal Wen we first started in potograpy, a potograper could fit almost every type of potograpic filter in a small camera bag. Today tat is almost impossible, as tere are undreds of filters on te market, wit new ones constantly being introduced. Potograpers can no longer just go out and buy one of eac and ave tings covered. nstead tey must analyze teir sooting style and buy specific filters to fit teir potograpic needs. FLTER TYPES Before you decide wat filters to buy, you first need to decide on ow you want to attac te filters to your camera. Tere are tree basic filter systems for your camera. Screw-in filters are most common, and are designed to screw into te finely macined treads on te front of your camera lens. You will need to buy a different-diameter version of eac filter you use if you ave different diameter lenses. You can buy step-up and step-down adapters to keep filter duplication to a minimum. To avoid image cutoff, use te step-up adapters (wic allow you to use a larger-diameter filter on a smaller-diameter lens). mage cutoff can possibly occur wit te step-down adapter (wic attaces a smaller-diameter filter to a larger-diameter lens), so make sure you use te dept-of-field preview at te smallest f-stop to ceck for cutoff. You may still need to purcase several different filter sizes if you own large-diameter superwide-angle or long telepoto lenses. f you plan on using several different filters on a variety of lenses, ten te FLTERS modular filter older migt be te solution. Tis filter older as lens treads on one side and a rectangular filter slot on te opposite side. Te advantage to tis system is tat you can buy several olders to accommodate your lens diameters, ten use te same filters for eac. You can quickly cange filters by sliding one out and te next one in. Many olders ave two slots, making it easy to use a combination of filters. Te modular-system filters are square or rectangular in sape, and are made of plastic, glass and acetate gel. Special lenses suc as fiseye and super telepotos may require te tird type of filter. Tese lenses ave a small filter drawer in te middle or rear of te lens. Since tese filters are de- Tree types of filters: Te plastic system filter (suc as te Cokin sown at left), wic is attaced lenses of various diameters via a filter older and adapter ring; te screw-in filter (front left), wic screws into te lens's front treads; and te gelatin filter (rigt), wic is attaced to te lens via a older and adapter ring. A polarizing filter can darken a blue sky so tat wite clouds will really stand out. n black-andwite potograpy, you can use a red filter to darken te sky, too; but obviously te red filter won't suffice for color work. signed for a specific lens, quite often your selection will be limited. BASC FLTERS Every filter manufacturer as a different way of grouping filters, wic makes your filter selection even more difficult. We tink tat filters sould be grouped as basic filters, advanced filters, and special-effects filters. Te basic group includes filters tat most potograpers would ave in teir camera bags, regardless of weter tey were just beginning or well advanced. Te basic filters include a polarizer, UV filter, and a series of ligt-balancing filters. Te polarizer is one of te most popular filters since it performs a variety of functions. t can reduce reflections from glass and water, make te sky muc darker, or increase te color saturation of an image. Te older linear polarizers were fine until te newer cameras wit built-in TTL metering and/or autofocusing systems wic partially polarize ligt. Wit suc cameras, you must use a circular polarizer, wic is more expensive tan te linear polarizer. Te polarizer comes in a rotating mount. Wile viewing troug te camera lens, rotate te filter until you see Porograpic Buyer's Guide

2 te desired effect. Reflections are quite unpredictable, so trial and error is te name of te game. You can obtain te darkest skies wit te polarizer wen you point your camera at a 9 angle to te sun. n te past a UV filter came standard wen you bougt a new lens. Wit improvement in lens glass, and as te spectral response of film keeps improving, tis filter's job as canged to just protecting te front lens element. f you do a lot of outside work tat is near mud or water, ten tis filter may save you some grief. f you ave ever seen pictures taken indoors witout a flas tey probably turned out quite yellow. Rigt? Well tat is because te potograper didn't use te correct film to matc te ligt source. Conversion filters are designed to elp you balance te ligt source to te film you are using. Te 8 series of conversion filters will correct tungsten to dayligt so your pictures will not ave tat yellowis cast. f you need to soot tungsten-balanced film in dayligt, te 85 series of conversion filters corrects te color balance. f you want to warm te color temperature, ten te 81 series of filters would be your coice. Eac filter as a letter beind it and increases in warmt as te letters go up. You don't ave to get te wole series, as eac filter is only sligtly different tan te next. We recommend te 81A and te 81C for starters. f you take pictures using dayligt film in deep sade wit blue skies above, ten you may want to go to te 81Dor81EF. Black-and-wite potograpers would ave a different assortment of basic filters. Te polarizer would still be of great elp, but a wole different set of color filters are used to increase te overall contrast in te scene. Te red No. 25 filter gives very dark skies, te green No. 58 improves te density of fles tones and ligtens foliage, and yellow filters give strong cloud contrast in landscape potograpy. color correction. Many of te larger format films will ave a suggested CC correction for eac box of film. Tis ensures tat a product will ave te same color balance wen potograped wit one box of film to te next. Potograpers wo find temselves sooting under fluorescent ligt will need te assistance of a special fluorescent filter. Te two basic types are te FL-D for use wit dayligt film and te FL-B for use wit tungsten film. Since tere are over 6 types of fluorescent "f you plan on using several different filters on a variety of lenses, ten te modular filter older migt be te solution" ligts, tese filters may not provide perfect color rendition. Testing aead of time is important if you want to get a critical color balance. f te tests sow you are close, you can finis te correction wit one of te color-compensating (CC) filters. f you don't ave an FL filter, a CC3 magenta filter can get you in te ballpark. Neutral-density filters reduce te amount of ligt coming troug te lens and onto te film. Wen you use tis filter, tere is no visible color sift, and te overall image quality is not degraded. Neutral-density filters allow you to capture blurred action and use slow sutter speeds in full dayligt. Exposure correction is calculated at one stop for eac.3 rating of te filter. (.9 = 3 stops). A polarizing filter can also be substituted as a neutral-density filter. Contrast-control filters are seldom used in still potograpy (professional movie cameramen like tem) and may never see te inside of your camera bag. Te low-contrast filter works by catcing ligt from te igligt and adding it to e sadow areas. One variation of tis filter is called a soft-contrast filter, wic causes a sligt amount of flaring or alation around te igligts. SPECAL-EFFECTS FLTERS t seems tat today's movie ratings are based on te caliber of te special effects. Tis explosion of special effects as found its way into te world of still potograpy, too. Special-effects filters are constantly being improved, and new effects seem to come out every mont. BG m 71 V) ADVANCED FLTERS As a potograpers improve and advance to te status of serious amateur or pro, tey will undoubtedly add more sopisticated filters to elp fine-tune teir results. Wen an exact color balance is required in a scene, te smart potograper reaces for a series of color-compensating (CC) filters. Tese come in te additive primary colors (red, green, blue) and te subtractive primaries (cyan, magenta, and yellow), wit values of 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Tey filters come in bot glass and gel form and allow fine A graduated filter can be used to bring out detail in a sky tat is too brigt to record wit detail wen you expose for te dark foreground Porograpic Buyer's Guide 115

3 BG UJ i Q. BLUE For color films: A blue filter adds an overall blue cast to te poto or "cancels out" an overall yellow color cast. A deepblue filter and sligt underexposure can be used in daytime to create a moonlit effect. For B&W films: Ligtens blue subjects (and sligtly ligtens cyan and magenta subjects) and darkens yellow subjects (and sligtly darkens green and red subjects). COLOR COMPENSATNG CC filters are designed to compensate for minute overall color casts on color-slide (transparency) films. (Overall color casts on color-print film can be corrected in te printing stage.) CONVERSON FLTERS Color films are usually balanced to eiter 55 K (dayligt) or 32 K (tungsten) ligt causing scenes sot under tese precise color temperatures to appear normal. Tese filters allow you to soot dayligt films under tungsten illumination (8 Series) or tungsten films in dayligt (85 Series). COLOR CORRECTON Similar to conversion filters, but tey correct for smaller ( /- 1 K increments) color temperature canges. CYAN For B&W films: Ligtens cyan subjects (and sligtly ligtens green and blue subjects) and darkens red subjects (and sligtly darkens magenta and yellow subjects). DFFRACTON GRATNG Tis filter distorts wite ligt source, creating spectral colors. A standard diffraction grating turns wite ligt sources into slases of rainbow colors; olograpic diffraction filters produce specialized patterns. DFFUSON Produces a sarp primary image, overlaid by an unsarp secondary image for a soft effect. A good diffusion filter will maintain contrast. FLUORESCENT elps correct for unpleasant color casts caused by fluorescent ligts. Available for tungsten or dayligt films. n a pinc, try a CC3M (magenta) filter wit dayligt-balanced films. FOG Creates illusion of fog by producing a soft effect and lowering contrast. Comes in different strengts, as well as graduated versions. GRADUATED FLTERS Te "top" starts wit a full filter effect and gradually reduces to no effect at te alfway point of te filter. Available in neutral density, colors or fog. elps reduce extreme exposure difference between a brigt sky and a dark landscape. GREEN For color films: A green filter adds an overall green cast to te poto or "cancels out" an overall magenta color cast. A weak green filter can be used to enance a green foliage scene. For B&W films: Ligtens green subjects (and sligtly ligtens cyan and yellow subjects) and darkens magenta subjects (and sligtly darkens blue and red subjects). AZE See ultraviolet filters. LOW-CONTRAST Reduces contrast witout (in teory) effecting image quality. MAGENTA For color films: A CC3M filter elps corrects green casts from fluorescent ligting and te green tint from airplane and train windows. For B&W films: Ligtens magenta subjects (and sligtly ligtens blue and red subjects) and darkens green subjects (and sligtly darkens yellow and cyan subjects). MULTPLE-MAGE Produces multiple images of te subject on one piece of film wit one exposure. Commonly creates a central image surrounded by secondary images or a primary image followed by a line of secondary images tat imply "speed." NEUTRAL DENSTY Neutral-density (ND) filters reduce te amount of ligt tat reaces te film witout affecting te color or tonal rendition. Used to produce slower sutter speeds or wider apertures tan would oterwise be possible for te film in use. Often used to soot waterfalls wit extremely slow sutter speeds, to cause te water to record as an etereal blur. POLARZER Polarizing filters allow ligt tat is vibrating in one particular plane to pass troug it, and blocks or partially blocks oter ligt rays. Used to reduce reflections on glass, water and oter nonmetallic objects; to darken te sky on film in relation to te clouds; or to intensify rainbows in a scene. Note: f you own a modem SLR, you will probably need a circular polarizer (rater tan a linear polarizer) to avoid problems wit te AF and metering systems. RED For B&W films: Ligtens red subjects (and sligtly ligtens magenta and yellow subjects) and darkens cyan subjects (and sligtly darkens blue and green subjects). SKYLGT See ultraviolet filters. STAR Star filters turn point-ligt sources (suc as bare bulbs) into spectacular starbursts wit 2-16 points, depending on te filter. SUNSET Adds dramatic, vibrant color to a dull sunset scene. Most effective wen sooting silouettes. TR-COLOR For color films: A special effect based on tree exposures on one piece of color film eac troug one of tese specialized red, green and blue filters wit a tripodmounted camera. Moving objects are depicted as magenta, cyan, yellow, green, red or blue gosts; stationary objects appear normal. For B&W films: Tese specialized red, green and blue filters can be used to create color images wit tree separate black-and-wite pictures. ULTRAVOLET (UV) Reduces te bluis cast of atmosperic aze by absorbing ultraviolet ligt. t works well at iger elevations because UV is especially prevalent. Will not reduce te effects of fog and smog. WARMNG (81 SERES) Corrects te blue cast caused by ligt tat is "cooler" (igernumber K or color temperature) tan te film is designed for. Use in te open sade, on overcast and rainy days or to add warmt to flestones. Comes in strengts from A-EF. YELLOW For color films: Can be used as a substitute for a warming filter (see above). For B&W films: Ligtens yellow subjects (and sligtly ligtens green and red subjects) and darkens blue subjects (and sligtly darkens magenta and cyan subjects) POiograpic Buyer's Guide

4 Fog or mist filters produce a foggy, misty effect, wit a glow around ligt sources. Again te callenge is deciding wic ones to purcase. Probably te most popular special-effects filters are te color graduates. Tese filters are usually clear on te bottom and graduate to a color from te center to te top. Wen te filter is placed over te lens, te color will gradually affect te upper portion of te image. A typical example of its usage is a scenic wit a ligt-blue sky tat would record as a deep-sepia sky using te sepia gradated filter. Tere are dozens of tese filters, some wit color variations, density canges, and even ones wit additional special effects built into te color gradation. One of te original special-effects filters gives a Multi-image prism filters surround a sarp central image of te subject wit several unsarp ones. A straburst filter turns point-ligt sources into stars. starburst effect. Tese star or crossscreen filters ave a screen sandwiced in-between two pieces of glass (or a grid pattern etced in te filter) wic results in starsaped sparkles emanating from all ligt sources. Different screen configurations result in different star effects. Tis is a popular filter wen potograping candleligt. Te diffraction or rainbow filter is a new adaptation of te starburst effect fil- "Probably te most popular specialeffects filters are te color graduates." ter. Diffraction material is substituted for te grid between two pieces of glass. Te complexity of te material will determine ow many streaks tere will be and te intensity of eac. As a bonus, te diffraction streaks break wite ligt sources down into teir spectral components, resulting in rainbow-colored streaks. Portrait and wedding potograpers use a vast selection of soft-focus or diffusion filters to elp add tat creative B+W FLTERS B+W filters by Scneider offer screw-in glass filters in two formats: economic standard filters wit an anti-reflection coating and top-ofte-line multi-coated filters made wit ig-quality Scott glass. n addition, a new "drop-in" single and double filter unit designed for medium format wedding and portrait potograpers is available. Te new Pro-Speed filters can be canged quickly wile sooting. CALUMET FLTERS Calumet offers professionally oriented gelatin Calumet Pro, resin, and polyester filters. Color correction, conversion, neutral density and black and wite film filters are available in all tree materials. Kits are available. COKN FLTERS Te Cokin line includes tree distinct filter types: Optiligt screw-in filters. Series A square filters (over 25 coices) and Series P rectangular filters (over 5 coices). Te Series A (for "amateur") and Series P (for "professional") filters are designed to fit into te modular A and P system filter olders, wit te P series being larger to accommodate te larger professional camera lenses. Optiligt filters are available in economic teme kits, suc as te Mountain Snow, Sky & Ocean, Fasion, Black-and-Wite and Close-Up Kits. CONTAX FLTERS Te Contax line of screw-in filters are available in 49-86mm sizes, designed for Carl Zeiss T* lenses used on Contax cameras. Options include filters for bot B&W and color potograpy. ARRSON & ARRSON arrison & arrison offers undreds of filters for artistic, as well as scientific purposes. Screw-in and slip-on filters, filters for bayonet-style olders and filters for ligt sources or windows are among teir offerings. BG TJ z m 3 to 1998 Porograpic Buyer's Guide 117

5 BG ui Q. ASSELBLAD FLTERS Victor asselblad nc. offers its own line of popular ig-quality filters for te asselblad mediumformat camera systems, wic soot 2!/4x2 l /i-inc images on 12 and 22 size (2!/»-inc wide) film. OYA FLTERS Wit oya, coices include over 85 different types of screw-in filters, eac available in different sizes many of wic rotate for exact control. Selections are geared for color, black-and-wite and special-effects potograpy. New introductions are te Super Circular Polarizer and oya MC Super multicoating. Te super multicoating uses 12 layers including an over-coat. Te Circular Polarizer is 5mm tick, eliminating corner sading. oya also offers a limited selection of slip-on and bayonet-style filters for old TLR cameras. KODAK/WRATTEN Kodak Wratten makes precision gelatin filters for professional potograpy and scientific applications. Tey feature a tin O.lmm tickness wit excellent optical qualities. Most are available in 3-, 4- and 6-inc squares, plus 14x18-inc size. Tese filters are easily cut to fit any needed smaller size or sape, or can be used wit a gel filter older. Kodak Wratten gels are available in a wide variety of precise colors, as well as neutral-density filters (from.1 to 1. in.1 increments, plus 2., 3. and 4. densities) and color-compensating filters (in te six primary colorsmagenta, yellow, cyan, green, blue and red in densities from.25 to.5). Te neutral-density (and color-compensating) filters can be combined for added density. LEE FLTERS Lee Filters offers a wide range of filters for motion picture, teatrical and still potograpy. New from Lee is a filter older system tat will allow any lens to use a 1mm filter using adapter rings. touc to teir potos. Most filters ave a clear center and become softer toward te filter's edge. Some ave color at te edges, wile oters ave a sarp center spot, diffused center spot, or even a different color in te center. Te fog and mist filters are anoter variation of te soft-focus filters. Tese filters enance a natural fog, or create fog were tere is none. Tey accomplis tis effect by flaring te ligt source into a mist. Lowcontrast subjects recede into te fog, wile ig-contrast subjects stand out in te mist. mages created wit multi-image prism filters are very obvious, as te center subject becomes 3, 5, 7, or 9 images. n most cases te center image is te sarpest, wile te outside "We were amazed at te number of new specialeffects fitters we discovered wile researcing tis article" images blur to te edges. f you use tis filter, do so sparingly, as viewers will tire of too many sots taken wit tis filter. Te speed or action filter is similar to te multi-image prism filter except tat it as one angled surface instead of many. One alf of te filter is flat, wile te oter alf is angled. Te angled portion will streak or create te effect of speed in te subject. Enancing filters made of didymium glass are used to saturate te warm colors of a scene. Tese filters is used by many landscape potograpers to add a creative warmt to teir scenics. n past years potograpers tried all combinations of filters and film to get a sepia color effect in teir potos. Life just got a little easier, as most filter manufacturers now ave a special sepia filter Speed filters blur alf of te subject into speed streaks. tat takes te testing and frustration out of creating sepia images. We were amazed at te number of new special-effects filters we discovered wile researcing tis article. Tere were too many to list, so we sorted out some of te most exotic ones to mention. We found te Color Weel 32, wic as 32 rays coming from eac ligt source, and te Soft Ring Diffuser, wic as a concentric ring design tat retains contrast as te diffusion increases. Pop filters give surrealistic color effects to monocromatic subjects or subjects wit distinct wite coloring. Te Prism Lens filter is a close-up lens wit an off-center clear spot, wic gives te impression of a double exposure. Te BFO filter is very muc like a bifocal lens, wit te close-up section at te bottom and normal viewing at te top. Te Double Exposure filter is not really a filter, but a mask tat allows you to soot te subject in two different areas of a scene. Te possibilities go on and on. FLTER FACTORS Before autoexposure anyone wo used filters could tell you off te top of teir ead ow muc more exposure was needed for a specific filter. Te autoexposure systems today give you correct exposures most of te time. Slide films may not always give correct results because some of te metering cells in te autoexposure cameras do not read well troug filters. Te best way to Porograpic Buyer's Guide

6 know for sure is to run some slide film tests wit eac filter. Bracket your exposures, and look at te results. f te exposure is off a little, make a note and put te correction wit te filter so you will remember next time you use te filter. f you are sooting color negative film, te exposure latitude will cover te filter factor. Manual exposure troug a filter requires knowledge of te filter factor. Once you ave determined your basic exposure, use te filter factor to adjust te exposure. A factor of 2X means tat you double te exposure or open te lens one stop, 4X means to increase tye exposure four times (two stops), and 8X means to increase te exposure by eigt times (tree stops). f you add two filters togeter, you multiply te factors togeter and make te necessary compensation. Unfortunately not all filter manufacturers' metods for determining filter factors are te same, so 2X may vary from filter to filter. Te only true way to know is to run tests. WRAP-UP We ave sown you tat tere are lots of coices wen deciding wic filters sould end up in your camera bag. So ow do you know wic ones to purcase? Talk to your poto friends and see wat tey use. Look in magazines and books and if you see special effects you like, ceck to see if tere is an explanation of ow te poto was taken. Visit your local camera store to see te selection tey ave to offer. Tey may ave books containing illustrations tat sow you te effect a particular filter will give. Wen you do decide on a specific filter, ave fun "Wen you do decide 9 na specific fitter, avefun wit it but don't overuse if" wit, but don't overuse it. New potograpers ave a tendency to fill a full roll wit multi-image pictures, or ave stars bursting everywere. Selectively pick subjects tat demand te use of a filter. Most important, get out and enjoy te additional creative edge tat filters give you. Q SNG-RAY Sing-Ray Corporation offers precise color-balancing filters, as well as four graduated neutral-density filters (2- and 3-stop gradations in an abrupt ard step or soft gradation). Tese carry a ig price tag, but offer truly neutral color (wereas many ceaper ND filters tend to be greenis). Sing-Ray also make custom filters. TFFEN Tiffen offers screw-in, Bayonet 6, 3x3 squares, 4x4 squares, 4x5 rectangles and rear-mount glass filters. Teir ollywood/fx filters include Pro-Mist (removes ars edge off sarpness witout appearing out-of-focus), as well as Black Pro-Mist (for a subtle cange of contrast) and Warm Pro-Mist (for Pro-Mist effects plus added warmt), eac in five densities. Te Enancing Filter (didymium glass) produces more saturated reds, browns and oranges on film excellent for autumn potograpy. Pro movie cameramen use many Tiffen filters. BG m TO to Bifo (split-field) filters consist of alf a close-up lens mounted in a filter ring. Tus, you can simultaneously focus sarply on bot a nearby subject (troug te close-up lens alf of te filter) and a distant one (troug te empty alf), even wen using wide lens apertures. Bot of tese potograps were sot wit te lens focused on te distant fountain. n te sot on te rigt, te split-field filter wit its glass close-up lens alf positioned over te rigt portion of te lens renders te nearby tree sarply at tis focus setting POiograpic Buyer's Guide 119