Testing Orange

Today I went out with the sole purpose of testing an Orange Filter (screw on) with Black & White Photography. As much as I love spending time editing my photos, lately I've been trying to get away from that and take on a more natural approach. That doesn't mean I won't do that in the future, I just want to see if I can actually achieve that. I took over 100 shots but these are the only ones that came out to my liking. 

A typical Orange Filter. I used a 58mm one with an adapter for a 52mm threaded lens.

I discovered through this test that the light meter within the camera was slightly off and I was getting mixed results. I decided that to get an even set of shots, to over-compensate the exposure by two positive stops and see how that worked. It helped give a little bit more light, especially as it was looking like it was about to rain. All shots were taken using Monochrome settings with maximum contrast. I never use anything but manual mode.

The first shot was taken in the garage before I left town, the reason I took it is pretty self explanatory.

f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 400

The next was taken on a quiet country road. I say quiet but 3 cars passed before I could even get the composition I wanted. I like how the road just disappears into a flat surface and you're left wondering where it carries on. Also, the sky at that moment in time reminded me of a big tidal wave that was slowly creeping upon the land.

f/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 200

There are many fields of sheep around the countryside of the borders but this one caught my eye due to the Rams. I really liked how they were grouped up together, it made for an easy composition. I don't usually like things that are centered but seeing as this is below centered, it worked. The only let down is that I wish I had taken a zoom lens with me because I would of loved to have gotten some closer shots. The Ram second to far right was just frozen looking at me the whole time, so I definitely would of had time if I had brought the right equipment.

f/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 800

This statue was upon a hill and behind a fence, so I had to do a little bit of hiking to reach it. Thankfully I'd come prepared with the appropriate boots. I took various angles of the statue but nothing really stood out to me. I liked this angle best because the light is directly facing the right side of the stone and the trees add to making him stand out more. The only thing I didn't like was the intensity of the light, so I had to try and balance between having a bright statue and bright trees or having a dark statue and dark trees. I forgot to take a note of who this actually was.

Edit: It is James Hogg, a Border Poet.

F/3.2, 1/80 sec, ISO 400

As I was walking back, I saw a lot of wild mushrooms and this one had been snapped, maybe by my careless walking or someone else. I didn't want to just shoot it in the grass it was laying because grass quite frankly, is boring. I moved it to a nearby rock that was covered in a subtle moss. I believed the extra detail in the rock went well with the underside of the mushroom and helped bring out the contrast.

F/3, 1/160 sec, ISO 800

Driving along at regular speed, I had to think twice to what I'd just seen. I wasn't sure at first, so I went back. Somebody had sellotaped an inflatable saxophone to a gate. The complete random nature of it made the decision of shooting it for me. Funnily enough, the Saxophone was bright orange but because of the filter, it had turned closer to white. If this had been a colour image and turned to b/w in post-processing, the result would be very different.

f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800

Slightly further down from the Saxophone was an area where walking down to the edge of the water was possible. I didn't want to get a shot that just went water > scenery > sky because I've tried that before. I found this little corner where a broken bank and stream ran into the loch and I feel it added a sense of depth in regard to the scale of the loch. 

f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800

Capturing motion is something I really like because it fits into the category of detail that is otherwise missed. The following image is a composition of two shots because on their own, they don't really work. I really like how the second water splash has a hole in it where the skimmed stone jumped back up out of the water. One thing I was unhappy about at this time was how the light was really starting to dim. I had to push up to ISO 3200, which started making grain more visible.

F/2.8, 1/800 sec, ISO 3200

Ideally, I want to try this on a sunny day, where I don't have to worry about pushing the cameras sensor due to bad lighting. I also aim to test the effects of the other colours of filter and see how black and white responds to them. I think for quick purposes, a small home-studio setup may be the best bet.