Careful use of filters with black and white photography can add a whole new dimension.
Photo: Charlie Waite
Inspiring Professionals
Think Differently
To use filters for black and white photography, you need to think differently.
A filter will lighten any colour that is similar to its own, and darken other colours.
A red filter, for instance, will make a red post box show as almost white, and a blue sky as almost black, as the relevant colours are either transmitted or absorbed.
Green filters are popular for lightening foliage or grass, and blue filters are often used to enhance skin tones and texture for portraiture, as they will darken pinks and reds.
Complete black & white control with a wide range of pale and dark hues
3 Light Yellow
8 Yellow
11 Yellow Green
12 Deep Yellow
15 Deep Yellow
16 Yellow Orange
21 Orange
23A Light Red
Unfiltered
Unfiltered
3 Light Yellow
Absorbs blue. Darkens sky, cloud and foliage.
11 Yellow Green
Absorbs red. Lightens foliage and grass, darkens reds.
21 Orange
Absorbs blue and blue/green.
23A Light Red
Absorbs blue/ green. Dramatically lightens reds and darkens blues and greens.
How to clean and store your filters
ClearLEE Filter Wash & Cloth
Filter and System Pouches
Angela Nicholson, Reviews Editor at Camera Jabber, takes a look at our ClearLEE range - designed especially to ensure your filters stay optically perfect and free of marks and smudges.
She also demonstrates our Filter and System Pouches and shows how she keeps everything organised and ready to go when you need it.
Quick Start Videos
Get up to speed fast with our videos that explain the LEE Filter System and how to use it
In Conversation with David Noton and Joe Cornish
We invited respected photographers David Noton and Joe Cornish to discuss all things photographic over a pint. Here they chat about light as the central subject of much of their photography.
This fascinating conversation continues over a series of videos that give a revealing insight into the technical, aesthetic and practical considerations that inform their work.
See more from the Series
You can subscribe to all our videos with 
Closed Captions and 
Translations on our YouTube Channel LEEfiltersTV
Infrared Filter
The LEE 87 Infrared Filter is visually opaque and is used in infrared photography to absorb unwanted visible light. Transmission begins above 730 nanometers.
Please note that some digital cameras are not capable of Infrared photography without specialist conversion. Your dealer, or the camera manufacturer should be able to advise correctly for your particular model.
Taken on a very windy day using the LEE Infrared filter on the D100, I was trying to get a feel of the movement of the clouds through the sky.
The long exposure needed with the 87 filter allowed a shutter speed of 5 seconds, which was long enough to show movement in the clouds, but still short enough to preserve sufficient sharpness in the leaves of the tree, slightly sheltered in the valley.
Using infrared also lightened the foliage of the tree against a much darker sky, the tonal range of the colour shot, with a dark tree against a lighter sky, was less exciting.
LEExposure 09 - Read our latest online magazine
LEExposure Issue 09 Highlights
- Rachael Talibart explains why the moods and vagaries of the sea are important to her photography
- What's new with the LEE100 Holder
- Composition Masterclass with Verity Milligan
- The Gallery - our showcase of fine photography
- Anatomy of an autumn image
- YourView - Your work critiqued by a professional
- Mark Cornick explains the beauty of a deliberately blurred image
Download PDF (31MB)Polariser
Polarising filters are used primarily to reduce reflections. This can be useful when photographing skies, water, glass etc.
Inspiring Professionals
Reimagined for tablets these new eBooks take you through stunning landscape photos and the exact filters and techniques used.
LEE Filters Quick Start Videos
You can subscribe to all our videos with Closed Captions and Translations on our YouTube Channel LEEfiltersTV
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