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CAMERA FILTERS © Ira Tiffen
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Similar to graduated ND filters (see earlier section for additional details), Color-Grad
color filters are also produced in a wide range of standard and custom colors, densities,
and proportions for many applications. A Blue-to-Clear filter can add blue to a white, hazy
sky without affecting the foreground. An Orange-to-Clear filter can enliven a tepid sunset.
Color can be added to the bottom of the scene, as with a Green-to-Clear filter used to
enrich the appearance of a lawn.
Stripe filters are another type of graduated filter, having a thin stripe of color or
neutral density running through the center of the filter, gradating to clear on either side.
These are often used to horizontally paint various colors in layers into a sky, as well as for
narrow-area light balancing.
Coral Filters
As the sun moves through the sky, the color temperature of its light changes. It is
often necessary to compensate for this in a variety of small steps as the day progresses, to
match the appearance of different adjacent sequences to look as if they all took place at
the same time. Coral filters are a range of graded filters of a color similar to an 85
conversion filter. From light to heavy, any effect from basic correction to warmer or cooler
than "normal" is possible. Corals can also compensate for the overly cool blue effect of
outdoor shade.
Sepia Filters
People often associate sepia-toned images with "early times." This makes Sepia
filters useful tools for producing believable flashbacks and for period effects with color film.
Other colors are still visible, which is different from original sepia-toned photography, but
appear infused with an overall sepia tint. Tiffen offers three types: #1, a mild version to
enhance cool/bluish lighting such as outdoor shade, and overcast daylight; #2, twice the
color density of the first, with applications for flashbacks and setting a “period” atmosphere;
and the #3, which has the same sepia coloration as the second, but also combines a mild
fog effect, which works very well together in many situations.
812® Filter
The Tiffen 812 is a mild warming filter. It finds use in adding additional color to flesh
tones. Bluish reflections from black skin can also be reduced. The 812 is such a useful
addition that it is manufactured in combination with other effects. These are called "warm"
versions of Pro-Mist, Soft/FX, Polarizer and others.
Didymium Filters
The Tiffen "ENHANCING Filter" is a combination of rare earth elements in glass. It
completely removes a portion of the spectrum in the orange region. The effect is to
increase the color saturation intensity of certain brown, orange, and reddish objects by
eliminating the muddy tones and maximizing the crimson and scarlet components. Its most
frequent use is for obtaining strongly saturated fall foliage. The effect is minimal on objects
of other colors. Skin tones might be overly warm. Even after subsequent color timing or