Pixiq

If you’re new to the world of traditional camera filters for black and white photography, here’s a quick primer. Keep in mind that these suggestions apply whether you are using a filter in front of your camera's lens or if you're using the digital filter options that are available from your digital SLR's Monochome (Olympus calls it "monotone") option for direct black-and-white capture.

A Yellow filter slightly darkens the sky, emphasizing clouds and is primarily used for landscape photography, but when shooting in snow, it can produce brilliant, dynamic textures. An orange filter produces effects similar to the yellow filter but skies are darker and clouds more defined. While helpful for landscapes it can be also used for higher contrast in architectural photography. An orange filter can be used in portraiture, especially under warm household light sources to produce smooth skin tones. The red filter produces dramatic landscapes. Skies turn almost black and contrast is maximized. In portraiture, freckles and blemishes can be eliminated. A green filter is useful for landscape photography as it lightens vegetation but doesn’t darken the sky as much as the red filter. Skin tones may also be more pleasing, but freckles and blemishes are more apparent.

While you could always use real color filters on your camera to archive the same effects that Canon, Olympus, and any of the other digital SLRS produces internally, there are some advantages of using digital filters. While most in-camera metering systems automatically take “filter factors” (See “Filter Factor”) into consideration, you still have to look and compose through a colored filter whose factor might range from three and five. In addition, a digital solution is an easier one to live with because the exposure for no filter is identical to one using a dark red filter. When using filters there is one important rule: There is no one-size-fits all approach to what filter works best. The text provides some guidelines, but experiment with the kind of pictures (subject dependence!) that you make to get the best results.