Do too many use B&W as the easy way out?
wadesworld
Registered Users Posts: 139 Major grins
Oh boy...I know I'm about to step into a can of worms here.....but something was bothering me as I browsed lots of galleries last night.
I'm just curious of the opinions of others. I see a LOT of photos presented in black and white where it seems highly likely that the photographer did so because it wasn't a great shot in color. A distracting background in color can be less distracting or even perhaps striking in B&W for instance.
Now, don't get me wrong - I understand that to REALLY shoot well in B&W you have to take a great shot. All the same things that go into a great color shot go into a great B&W shot. I also LOVE B&W photography (I grew up with it). I just couldn't help feeling there were instances where the photographer thought, "Hmm...this shot doesn't really work....I know...make it black and white and they'll think it moody and beautiful instead of blah!"
Am I alone in that feeling? Or should I be saluting the photographer for salvaging a bad picture by clicking the B&W button?
Just something that was running around in my head....
I'm just curious of the opinions of others. I see a LOT of photos presented in black and white where it seems highly likely that the photographer did so because it wasn't a great shot in color. A distracting background in color can be less distracting or even perhaps striking in B&W for instance.
Now, don't get me wrong - I understand that to REALLY shoot well in B&W you have to take a great shot. All the same things that go into a great color shot go into a great B&W shot. I also LOVE B&W photography (I grew up with it). I just couldn't help feeling there were instances where the photographer thought, "Hmm...this shot doesn't really work....I know...make it black and white and they'll think it moody and beautiful instead of blah!"
Am I alone in that feeling? Or should I be saluting the photographer for salvaging a bad picture by clicking the B&W button?
Just something that was running around in my head....
Wade Williams
Nikon D300, 18-135/3.5-5.6, 70-300/4.5-5.6, SB800
Nikon D300, 18-135/3.5-5.6, 70-300/4.5-5.6, SB800
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I know I personally use B/w as a fall back (Guilty) and have been trying to push myself towards color. I shoot/edit television professionally and work in color all day. I agree with you that it can be over done but so can any post process. The image I am working on tonight after work will be in color for the simple reason I want to perfect shooting in color. I think your discussion is very valid and just reminds me that photography can be done 1000 different ways.
John
That said, sometimes I will do both a color and B&W version of the same shot and decide which I prefer when I'm done. But I don't consider B&W easier in any way.
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I tend to use it when I have to shoot stuff with high ISO. Black and White is great for converting "noise" to "grain"
I dont know if I would call it a fallback plan, but I certainly use it from time to time.
www.joeywashburn.com
So now I feel like kind of a blow hard for all those times I questioned people for their B&W images.
Forgive me for showing up late to this party...
First, I am a big believer in black and white, and not because I can't shoot color. My feeling, which I've expressed before, is that unless an image is about color, color can be distracting. If you have a subject dressed in bright clothing, if you have bright colors in a photo, the colors are what you see, not the subject. I am more focused on composition and tonality, and, most of all, about the story the image tells. (And, to be perfectly honest, I am old enough to have come of age in the black and white tradition.)
Second, I don't look at conversion to black and white as some photoshop post-processing trick. Rather, I look at it as making my film choice after I shoot. I would love to have a black and white digital camera, or one that started in black and white and then gave you the option of going to color afterwards. But that's not what we have. We start with what might be viewed as magical film stock with an endless iso range and endless color and tonality options. I most often decide to use it as black and white. And in terms of post processing, once I make that conversion - and even in making it - I work my images as I would work images in the darkroom.
I realize that to some of you, half the fun is in the post-processing; it's not for me. When I was shooting film professionally I sent my film to a lab in Tuscon, AZ, I didn't soup it myself - though I did my share of darkroom work years ago. Keep in mind that many of the great BW photographers - and I am not calling myself that by any stretch
Cheers
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
When I shoot my Canon cameras in RAW + jpg, with the color style set to monochrome ( and I can choose a red, orange, yellow or blue filter, ) what I see on the LCD is a B&W image. That is what the jpgs are saved as. But the RAW file still allows me to return to a color image without any loss if I so desire.
Do the Olympus digital cameras offer this ability also, perhaps? I would think they might.
I love both color and B&W. But for me, they are very different experiences, and require a different eye. One is all about light and shadow, and one is about color and warm or cool tonalities.
Joseph Albers said "Shape is the enemy of color." I think that color is the arch enemy of shape, too!
I have always been intrigued that 98% of the published shots of Slot Canyons, like Antelope Canyon, are in color, even though they are almost always monotones, and images of shapes and light. I always wondered why we don't see more B&Ws in this situation.
When shooting B&W - one can ignore complementary colors, color clashes, neutral colors, primary color schemes ( red, yellow,blue ), secondary color schemes ( green violet, orange ), warm or cold tones, but when shooting color all of these choices intrude. I note that of my 12 most popular photos, half of them involve images of complementary colors, and 1/3 of them are basically orange and blue.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
This is a little speculative, but my impression is that it is mainly photographers who are enamored of B&W, while the general public has a clear preference for color. When I look at my SmugMug stats, there is a fairly consistent preference for color over B&W, and I don't think that's because my color shots are any better. Anyone else notice this effect?
I did not mention than none of my B&W images make the cut in my Popular Images on my gallery, until the 17th position and then again at the 93rd slot.
Popular Images, of course, are chosen by viewer's of the gallery, and not necessarily what I like the best.
As I said, complementary colors schemes play a very big role in how the public judges my images, at least that is my take away thought.
I think you are right, that B&W appeals to a smaller, perhaps more thoughtful audience. Many of whom are photographers.
As modern newspapers have gone to color images, as opposed to the older starker B&W, how has that affected the content of the images, and it's effect on the readers, I wonder. Think of the images of the turmoil in Iran and the the bright green scarves the women are wearing, and how they would look differently in B&W. Would you have the scarves be a bright highlight? Or a dark shadow? Why?
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Agreed! I primarily shoot B&W IR and I don't know how many times I've actually heard people say to me, "that's cool but when are you going to shoot more color images".
www.cavalierphotographic.com
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