Filters I'm not sure what to do with

Wifey bought me a couple filters just because. One is a blue filter that transitions from a darker blue to clear by the time it reaches the middle of the lens. The other is orange - orangish red and transitions the same way.

I have not played with them yet but what would you use them for? The blue I imagine is to enhance the color of the sky.

The orangish/red I have no idea.

Anyone throw me a bone here?

A lot of sunset images with intense colours are filtered with the orange/red filters.

Put em on ya lens and go take some pics.

Color Filters and Black and White Photography | Pixiq

Colored filters were big for B&W as Brusader points out. Given that most programs with B&W functionality allow you to play with filter-like settings afterward, I never bothered, and cameras like my D7000 have B&W modes with digital filters built in, but there's something to be said about purposeful shooting and committing to the shot up front. You learn to think more up front rather than try and discover or rescue something from a shot later.

You can get almost the same effects when you use the B&W correction with photoshop. You have sliders where you can adjust the intensity of the filters + you have all colors.

I have a fairly good collection of filters that I used for B&W film work back in the 90's, they're great for this kind of photography but don't believe these kind of filters work so well with digital sensors. Although I've never tried using any of them on my dSLR's, you may find it kind of freaks out the sensor. But who knows, you might come up with a cool new shtick?

If you use filters, especially coloured filters on a digital camera, you don't want to use auto white balance.