Re: PHOTO: Blue Irises
- Subject: Re: PHOTO: Blue Irises
- From: M* L*
- Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1998 07:37:54 -0500
From: Mike Lowe <mlowe@worldiris.com>
Chris Hollinshead wrote:
>> I think quite a number of people would enjoy this article mentioned below,
>> Sterling. I think it would be a worthy post to the list even if it is
>> long...
My filing system is somewhat of a jumble what with several multi gig hard
drives and at least 20 Zip disks off line... but a search did turn the
article in question up and here it is:
"Quoted from the Bulletin of The American Iris Society, Vol LVIII, series
224, Winter 1997, ppg 30-31"
The Photographer and the Blue Iris
RON THOMAN, Delaware
It is disappointing that modern color films cannot faithfully reproduce the
blue color in iris. If the fleeting moments of the bloom season are to be
adequately captured on film, it is important that the colors be realistic.
Thankfully, there are filters available that will correct for the blue
deficiency of color film. By judging from the many cameras dangling from
the necks of iris enthusiasts on garden tours, this solution to a nagging
problem will be of wide interest.
I can recall one of the first Delaware Valley Iris Society meetings I
attended. The evenings activities progressed to the major feature, a slide
show. Midway through the presentation, Opal Brown 5 SEASIDE was projected
on the screen, but as a light rosy-lavender iris. This clashed with any
recollection of that lovely flax-blue bloom. Oh, I know that we don't, as
yet, have a true spectrum blue iris as is sometimes portrayed in iris
catalogs. Still, how can we recreate the iris-blue hue on film? Trying to
answer that question has been my search for the last several years.
Although great progress has been made in color films, color rendition
remains a compromise with certain colors favored over others. For example,
flesh-tones are in the driver's seat. Whites and grays also have high
priority. Commonplace colors such as that of the sky and grass are also
important. But the blue iris must take a back-seat to these colors as far
as the general public is concerned.
One Kodak publication states that the heavenly-blue morning glory and
ageratum flowers are examples of color occurring in nature that reproduce
poorly because color films are more sensitive than the eye to the far red
of the spectrum. The blue iris must also fall into that same category.
During the 1976 bloom season, I conducted an experiment taking photographs
of the light blue BABBLING BROOK using different filter combinations. I
used High Speed Ektachrome film in a single lens reflex camera. The results
are summarized below:
Filter Evaluation
none too red
82A improvement over no filter
80C improvement over no filter
80B improvement over no filter
CC2OC fourth best
CC3OC third best
CC2OC+82A best
CC2OC+8OC too blue
CC2OC+80B too blue
CC5OC second best
The evaluation is mine, but should provide a starting point for the
interested photographer. Four filter combinations provide satisfactory
correction; however, I consider the combinations of the two filters, CC2OC
and 82A, to provide the best results. Although the CC2OC filter is the
major factor, the 82A filter seems to add the right amount of blue. The
CC2OC is a color compensating filter that subtracts a portion of the red.
The result is pleasing and realistic.
The 82A filter, the more common of the two, is normally bought as a glass
mounted filter. It is probably more practical to buy the CC2OC filter as a
gelatin film. Gelatin filter frames, holders, and adapters are also
available. A major photographic store will be able to help you in the
selection for your camera.
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