Color Filters
Colors are one of the most important visual communication channels our brain responds to. A single color or a combination of colors can radically change how you feel about something. Knowing how to use specific colors for specific subjects and situations is part of what makes a very good photographer.
But how do you influence the colors in your pictures? The first thought is probably related to Photoshop and post processing. While this is an effective method of altering or correcting colors, it is time consuming and many photographers would much rather be out shooting than sitting in front of a computer to tweak colors. So what about color filters? What are they good for?
Most of the times, color filters are used to reduce a color, to enhance it or to increase contrast. There are three major categories of colored filters: light-balancing filters, color conversion filters and color compensating filters.
Let's take each of the separately. Both light balancing and color conversion filters are used when the light is less than desirable and heavy corrections are needed.
Color compensating filters are mostly used to regulate color balance or to create certain effects. They are divided in six basic colors, with a lot of variations between them: red, green, blue, yellow, cyan and magenta. Red, yellow and their variations are categorized as warming filters, while green, blue and magenta are best known as cooling filters, They work much like white balance, but they have a preview advantage : what you see in the viewfinder is what you get in the end.
Because digital cameras have brought a lot of options to alter colors, there is a debate whether buying filters is still worth it or not. The time factor is a strong argument but that's not all. Many photographers still use color filters because it makes pictures look more natural. Other than that, many amateurs don't have enough editing experience to change colors artificially without brining damage to the image file. For them too, color filters could be the solution.
Let's have a look at some of the most common effects and uses of color filters:
Red- It is especially used in classic black and white photography because it enhances contrast dramatically. Landscape photographers often use a red filter to highlight impressive skies and spectacular clouds.
Green- green filters are often used for skin tone correction because they reduce reds and blues. They also work great trees and forests.
Blue- blue filters are used to cool of warm light. They also reduce contrast and slightly darken red.
Orange- it enhances the contrast between red and yellow and it is used in landscape photography when shooting sunsets with long lenses.
Yellow- it absorbs blue, giving a much warmer feel to the image.
Of course you can combine two or more filters depending on the effect you want to achieve.
We recommend having at least one or two in you kit if you're a regular, digital photographer. However if you have a crush for black and white film, you'd better invest in a set of color filters because they do absolute magic in combination with good old black and white.
Good luck!