Digital filters - fun or folly?

[SpecialK]

I just did these shots today to at least see what digital filters in the K20D can do - or not do. These only work on jpg's, and I shoot RAW, so this is pretty much a one-time thing :-) And, you can do nearly the same thing is PP software. Anyway, it might be interesting to some.

Original.
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B&W (there are other varieties I will show on another image later).
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Adding color. There are color choices, and 3 strength options. This is overdoing magenta (I think) on heaviest. Makes it look like a fading 50's photo, sort of.
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Color extract - blue. Selectable color to keep, everything else goes BW.
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Color extract - red.
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HDR. This also has 3 strengths (heaviest here) and probably not the right image for it.
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Illustration.
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Sepia. A common PP option in software, here applied on heavy.
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Soft focus. Again, this is heaviest, and not the best image for it. Flowers may be better.
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I did not use the "slim" filter which allows you to alter the aspect ratio.

[Rhys]

Hmm... As you say... interesting to play with but I never was a fan of filters even in the film days.

I used to use (back in my 35mm days) the following filters:
Star 8
ND
Orange
Red
Yellow
Green
Polariser

I tried all the other kinds of filters and was never impressed. Look at the photos that sell... Not a single bizarre filter amongst them. Mostly ND or polariser. No starbursts. No funky coloured grads... Just plain photos. Soft Focus could be useful for portraits though.

[Turn]

digital filters just feel cheap..

I agree with ND/Polariser being the most "effective"

I've seen some amazing colour grad filter shots however..



to me, curves is my bread and butter..

[SpecialK]

Here are variations on the BW filters.

Original.
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"BW".
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"R" of RGB.
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"G" of RGB.
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"B" of RGB.
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