SOME YEARS AGO one of the most outstanding motion picture cameramen in Hollywood passed away. He left some very fine camera equipment and accessories, which his widow immediatly disposed of the best way she knew how. Dduring their long years of marriage, she had learned nothing about photography or the value of his tools of trade. Hearing that she was selling out his equipment, I went to see her. As I well knew that the deceased cameraman had a reputation for being a veritable wizard with filters, I asked if his "filter kit" was for sale. The confused little lady admitted that she knew nothing about any filters or any filter kits, but she had sold something to someone for the price of twenty dollars "a big case of colored pieces of glass in all shapes and sizes."

This was truley tragic. Here was a man who spent the greatest part of his life learning and practicing the art of using filters, and assembled the greatest collection of fine filters, only to have them sold off as "pieces of colored glass". This collection was no doubt the number one tool in his bag of tricks -- to him undoubtedly a jewel box on which he staked his reputation for skillful artistry. With these little filters he had painted the most eye fetching, spectacular scenes to appear on the screens the world over. Like a true artist, he had "painted" with them, just like other artists do with paint and brush.

Let's not regard a filter as just another piece of colored glass to be put in front of your lens to darken the sky and bring the clouds out pretty. It does a lot more than that. It can set the mood of your picture, leave things out that you do not want, or emphasize the things you do want. It can "sell" your entire production.

The cameraman must know what filter to apply, just as a painter has to know what color to use. Filters of different colors, densities and substances are used at every turn of the road in good photography, and the professional cameraman must have a thorough knowledge of the results which can be obtained with them. The filter factors (the numbers by which the exposure must be multiplied) and data on the color sensitivity of film is supplied by the manufacturer, and the spectral quality of light source can easily be checked with a reliable meter. But the selection of the proper filter is solely depending upon the judgement of the photographer himself. And this he must find out for himself by the old trial and error method. One cameraman's opinion may differ greatly from someone else's.

The fundamental action of the filter is to hold back certain color's from reaching the photographic emulsion. In otherwords ......

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