Message posted by gary on May 30, 2001 at 20:47:01 PST:
I was doing some old fashioned surfing (aka looking through books in the library) and ran into a book with some interesting philosophies about filters for black and white photography. Those who have done telescope photos are familiar with the red #25 filter to cut through haze. Now this author (forgot to write down the name of the book) believes that the red #25 filter reduces detail in the shadows because shadow areas tend to be indirectly lit by blue light, i.e. from the sky, not the sun. The author suggested that the red #25 filter actually reduces constrast, and that the light red #23a filter is as extreme as you should go. The orange #21 filter is nearly as effective in cutting through haze without killing the shadow detail. The minimum haze filter you should use is the dark yellow #15 filter. I tend to agree that the red #25 is too extreme. Unless the lighting is good, I find the photos done with the #25 lack contrast. I plan to do some experiments with the orange filter and will publish a comparison with the #25. One advantage to the orange filter is more light comes through, so there is less chance of shake due to the wind.
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