Jannie
3rd of June 2009 (Wed), 16:40
My local camera store after 60 years is going out of business. As I wandered through their self proclaimed junk sale I almost considered an old worn GraLab timer as a piece of Gothic Art for my apartment.
Instead I found myself wandering through drawers of mostly filters for black and white photography with an occasional other odd filter. I almost choked with memories as I picked up a series 9 Harrison D-1 diffusion filter. When I was shooting motion, everyone had fortunes invested in filters of all types, it was a creative thing that if you could work it right, "your look" which of course mostly involved lighting, was what created much of your importance in the world of making commercials shot on film but ended up on television. And, we gleaned every bit of information from the movie guys and the new looks they were creating as well.
I had many sets of series 9 Harrisons as well as 6.6"x6.6" filters for the matte box as well. A couple of years ago I asked on this forum about various filters for portrait shooting and got back basically two answers, 1. do it in Photoshop and 2. we don't do that anymore.
So I bought the filter anyway, "$10 for that one mam", I'd been standing there putting it up to my eye and then taking it back down for comparison - honestly I was very excited.
Like a gem, it's now mine, I've taken a few test shots holding it up to my 24-70 at both wide and tight and then playing with bringing the images to be very close to each other in PP and it looks promising. I don't really know how or where I'll use it but I'd like to try and see if I can create a beautiful treatment for some photos, yes of course I'll try it on portraits as well.
As I remember, I'd light differently when using frost and some diffusion filters, often with more contrast, sometimes adding a quarter 85 or CTO to the key and a 1/4 blue daylight to the fill which would give a different allusion of contrast than just light and dark. I loved that part of the business, playing with the light and image; the rest was all management, of time, people and equipment. My camera assistant, gaffer and I would run quick tests with new filter, lighting ratios sometimes when waiting for a new setup to come together and we'd shoot the head of the roll slate with the combination so we could see the affect during the daily rushes and decide if it was a direction we wanted to go.
I have yet to create any of the looks from the past by messing in Lightroom, other than reducing the clarity to blur over some skin textures, I've also messed with reducing the sharpness but that just looks like an image that was shot with a bad lens. You really need a sharp, crisp lens to use fog and diffusion filters effectively.
Anyway, it was the only one they had, I'd like to find a d-1/2 as well in series 9, just because. If this one I have becomes useful, I'll probably get a step up ring or just tape it to the front of the lens, it fits the end of the lens perfectly.
Instead I found myself wandering through drawers of mostly filters for black and white photography with an occasional other odd filter. I almost choked with memories as I picked up a series 9 Harrison D-1 diffusion filter. When I was shooting motion, everyone had fortunes invested in filters of all types, it was a creative thing that if you could work it right, "your look" which of course mostly involved lighting, was what created much of your importance in the world of making commercials shot on film but ended up on television. And, we gleaned every bit of information from the movie guys and the new looks they were creating as well.
I had many sets of series 9 Harrisons as well as 6.6"x6.6" filters for the matte box as well. A couple of years ago I asked on this forum about various filters for portrait shooting and got back basically two answers, 1. do it in Photoshop and 2. we don't do that anymore.
So I bought the filter anyway, "$10 for that one mam", I'd been standing there putting it up to my eye and then taking it back down for comparison - honestly I was very excited.
Like a gem, it's now mine, I've taken a few test shots holding it up to my 24-70 at both wide and tight and then playing with bringing the images to be very close to each other in PP and it looks promising. I don't really know how or where I'll use it but I'd like to try and see if I can create a beautiful treatment for some photos, yes of course I'll try it on portraits as well.
As I remember, I'd light differently when using frost and some diffusion filters, often with more contrast, sometimes adding a quarter 85 or CTO to the key and a 1/4 blue daylight to the fill which would give a different allusion of contrast than just light and dark. I loved that part of the business, playing with the light and image; the rest was all management, of time, people and equipment. My camera assistant, gaffer and I would run quick tests with new filter, lighting ratios sometimes when waiting for a new setup to come together and we'd shoot the head of the roll slate with the combination so we could see the affect during the daily rushes and decide if it was a direction we wanted to go.
I have yet to create any of the looks from the past by messing in Lightroom, other than reducing the clarity to blur over some skin textures, I've also messed with reducing the sharpness but that just looks like an image that was shot with a bad lens. You really need a sharp, crisp lens to use fog and diffusion filters effectively.
Anyway, it was the only one they had, I'd like to find a d-1/2 as well in series 9, just because. If this one I have becomes useful, I'll probably get a step up ring or just tape it to the front of the lens, it fits the end of the lens perfectly.