Filters for Black & White
Coloured filters can produce great effects for black and white photograph. By using coloured filters – typically yellow, orange, red and green - You can lighten or darken the tone of coloured subjects and also effect contrast dramatically.
Black & white images can sometimes lack impact because colours that are well differentiated in nature – can be equivalently luminous in shades of grey.
A coloured filter can lighten the tone of the one colour, while darkening the tone of a complementary colour. For Example yellow and yellow/green filters can bring more brilliance to landscape photographs and create better differentiation of green tones in vegetation.
Yellow and orange filters can enhance clouds on a blue sky and red filters can even raise them to dramatic thunderstorm strength.
B+W TIP: A very simple rule can be used to determine which filter should be used: To lighten a subject colour, use a filter of the same colour. To darken a subject use a filter of a complementary colour
