Can anyone answer this?!?

[Jenny]

I am stumped here. Can anyone explain to me how color filters for B&W film work? Technically speaking, if the film is designed to eliminate color from the picture then how does putting a color filter on the camera have any effect? Am I making any sense? How can a film that is designed not to show color suddenly have color just by placing more color in front of the lens?:dunno :scratch :dunno

[digismile]

I think this is a pretty easy question to answer (I hope!).

B/W film isn't designed to eliminate colour. It's designed to be sensitive to light. Period. It is made of a silver based emulsion that produces clear for black (no light) to black 100% white light.

So since it is simply reflecting its sensitivity to light (all colours), a filter will simply eliminate a portion of the spectrum of light normally hitting the film.

Just my guess and if I'm way off, someone please correct!

Brad

[Jenny]

That makes a lot of sense. It is like the light just clicked on in my head, thank you!

[wxwax]

Cool, I love questions which force me to learn. :thumb

Here's (http://www.acecam.com/magazine/filters-faq.html) a technical but through explanation.

[digismile]

Good article Sid :thumb

[Jenny]

Yawn:snore , it's 2 am and Im trying to read that article (which is awsome by the way!:) ) I will definately have to look at it more in the morning when my eyes will focus again. I just wanted to say thanks for all the insight. :1drink Jenny

[digital faerie]

Yawn:snore , it's 2 am and Im trying to read that article (which is awsome by the way!:) ) I will definately have to look at it more in the morning when my eyes will focus again. I just wanted to say thanks for all the insight. :1drink Jenny
a simple experiment is to take a shot with a yellow, an orange, and a red filter and compare just how much more contrasty the red filter photo produces compared to your yellow filter shot, or a non-filter shot. :) I didn't read the article, but what I do know is that it definitely affects contrast for sure. Of course, certain colors in your subject are affected, but I can never remember which ones are affected by which filter, lol. :)

[wxwax]

a simple experiment is to take a shot with a yellow, an orange, and a red filter and compare just how much more contrasty the red filter photo produces compared to your yellow filter shot, or a non-filter shot. :)
Depends what you're shooting. :nod

Color filters can do two things to B&W. One thing is to help separate colors which look different in color, but similar in B&W. The other thing is contrast.

As I understand it, a color filter in B&W blocks out its opposite color. So a red filter blocks out whatever the opposite color is to red. And so on for each color filter.