Digital Camera Filters: Color Filter in Photography

Color Filters

In black and white we obtain a negative with different densities of gray; from the original negative and also through the developing (11.3) and printing (12.3). Also, there is no such thing as "fidelity" in black and white, because the disappearance of tones is a break with realism. The tones we obtain in a negative, with or without filters, aren't usually "objectively" questioned by the spectator, and the use of a filer is, except in extreme cases, undetectable. In color the problem is very different. There is a correct color balance , which we have defined as conditions were the neutral tones (grays) of the scene are reproduced as such in the photograph. These conditions are: 1) the color of the light that lightens the scene is of the same characteristics as the emulsion is balanced for (4.7.2 and 6.4); 2) that the exposure level doesn't pass the limits (4.8.3 and 4.9.3); 3) the exposure time isn't abnormally long or short (4.7.3). Any failure to fulfill the first or third of these conditions is going to cause a variation in the tones of the image with a predominance of a color ( dominant ). The strict color balance isn't a goal, but a starting concept . Through theory and experience we can foresee the image's colors; detect dominants and correct them when we anticipate they are going to be excessive; and finally, modify the colors in the sense we wish,, to reach the balance of abnormal conditions to alter the color balance at our will.