Sigh... I was hoping for some "clarity" here as I've started thinking a little more seriously about and making attempts at B&W processing. Guess not.
I've looked at your work Steve, and, fwiw, imo, you are doing fine... you have the most important ingredients; passion, (artistic) ambition, and some fine images.
Maybe add..... Step 6. Format card, then repeat Steps 1-5 until YOU are satisfied, and feeling it.
oh ok. Never mind. Color then. I prefer it. The b&w attempts are just to see if there's a there there. I get it but i don't "get it i suppose.. .
Take a half an hour or so and follow some of the links in the Masters section of the tips sticky at the top of this forum. If you still don't get it, well, maybe the old Louis Armstrong answer to the question "what is jazz?" applies here: If you gotta ask, you'll never know.
I understand BD's reluctance to try to study the topic, Ryan. Photography and art is very subjective, and it would seem therefore hard to study and certainly hard to quantify. But what I think you are wanting, Ryan, is not a study of whether people LIKE black and white better, but whether the lack of color helps people to focus on different aspects of an image. And that probably can be studied.
JPEG compression came about after studying how the visual system interprets visual data and what data can be thrown away and still not fool the eye. (To me, JPG mostly succeeds at that goal.) MP3 compression came about after studying the auditory system and knowing what parts of a complex audio system can be thrown away and not affect the sound quality. (To me, it fails at what it tries to do. Sure it saves file space, but it drastically impacts the sound). And MP4 compression came about as a means of compressing video images rather than still images in such a manner as to save space but not be visually different. (As with JPG, I think MP4 mostly succeeds at its goal too).
So these subjective things, does the image look the same, does the music sound the same, does the video look the same, CAN be studied. And if you want to know if B&W is less distracting in some manner that COULD be studied. Perhaps not precisely, but studied to some degree sure....
And even if Ryan's questions can't be easily studied scientifically, I think it is still very good to raise these types of questions from an artistic perspective. An NPR piece that I heard about the artist John Baldessari illustrates this point far better than I could explain. Since the eye may be immediately drawn to and may continue to focus primarily on faces in an image, John made the decision for some of his work to obliterate the faces with dots (a little more extreme than converting to b/w to change the way the viewer sees it, no?)
I enjoyed and learned from B.D.'s article and also from this thread with all of the participation and lively discussion and questioning that went on here and now will hopefully migrate to the rest of this forum.
Take a half an hour or so and follow some of the links in the Masters section of the tips sticky at the top of this forum. If you still don't get it, well, maybe the old Louis Armstrong answer to the question "what is jazz?" applies here: If you gotta ask, you'll never know.
Color is fine. Onward.
Hmmm... will do. I actually like jazz.. so maybe there's hope Thanks everyone .
If you like jazz, and want to "get" black and white, check out W. Eugene Smith's "Jazz Loft Project." For that matter, look at a copy of "Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project." It's now in paperback, and it is mind bogglingy good.
I want to jump in this conversation or conversion. My persoanl opinion is summed up in BD's last few lines of the article. "
If you want to capture a child at play, and really see the child, shoot them in black and white.
If you want to capture a couple in a café, a tired commuter on a subway late at night, a cop on the beat, then do it with black and white.
If you don’t, you’ll end up with frame full of conflicting, distracting colors, and they are what will grab the viewer’s attention."
In color you can have serious conflicting issues. If you have a mono tone shot in color and then in the bottom corner you have a splash of red in it. That red will draw your eye away. If you have opposites on the color spectrum you just created high contrast even if you didnt want to. Colors also have a huge impact on mood. Warm colors make you feel warm and fuzzy. Cooler colors make you feel cool. This can all be a huge distraction if not composed correclty in the photo. Rember the simplicity of a photograph. It is a small box that is flat with no depth or texture or life. How you compose that scene or person determines what is precevied from that square or box. Light is the main factor of that perception. What better way to show the contrast and composition of the light than with B&W. The next qestion for you pros is wouldn't we all be better photographers in all areas if we could get better at that light concept?
I had a teacher say once that the way to become a better photographer with color is learn how to be a good photographer with B&W. He said you will see color and its use in a new way. He also gave me a method to pratice with. He said at any point and place stop and frame a scene in your head. Then pick out the brightest highlights and the darkest spots. He said you will learn to see light in a new manner and make a better photog out of you.
Obiviously I failed to do the homework but believe it does work if practiced. That is my two cents worth. I still like both but have started garvitating back to B&W lately. In fact I have started shooting more film both 35mm and 120mm lately. I have even gone back to developing my own.
Comments
I've looked at your work Steve, and, fwiw, imo, you are doing fine... you have the most important ingredients; passion, (artistic) ambition, and some fine images.
Maybe add..... Step 6. Format card, then repeat Steps 1-5 until YOU are satisfied, and feeling it.
Opinions are like ass.... well, you've heard the rest. (I should know
Keep clickin'
You have an Office ??
This from the Guy who breaks out at the thought of ........... WORK !
Oh yeah the subject B&W or Color............hmmm don't know ?
My Galleries
Flicker
G+
Color is fine. Onward.
And even if Ryan's questions can't be easily studied scientifically, I think it is still very good to raise these types of questions from an artistic perspective. An NPR piece that I heard about the artist John Baldessari illustrates this point far better than I could explain. Since the eye may be immediately drawn to and may continue to focus primarily on faces in an image, John made the decision for some of his work to obliterate the faces with dots (a little more extreme than converting to b/w to change the way the viewer sees it, no?)
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/11/173745543/for-john-baldessari-conceptual-art-means-serious-mischief
I enjoyed and learned from B.D.'s article and also from this thread with all of the participation and lively discussion and questioning that went on here and now will hopefully migrate to the rest of this forum.
Hmmm... will do. I actually like jazz.. so maybe there's hope
One of these days I'll have to figure out what my "style" is..
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
If you want to capture a couple in a café, a tired commuter on a subway late at night, a cop on the beat, then do it with black and white.
If you don’t, you’ll end up with frame full of conflicting, distracting colors, and they are what will grab the viewer’s attention."
In color you can have serious conflicting issues. If you have a mono tone shot in color and then in the bottom corner you have a splash of red in it. That red will draw your eye away. If you have opposites on the color spectrum you just created high contrast even if you didnt want to. Colors also have a huge impact on mood. Warm colors make you feel warm and fuzzy. Cooler colors make you feel cool. This can all be a huge distraction if not composed correclty in the photo. Rember the simplicity of a photograph. It is a small box that is flat with no depth or texture or life. How you compose that scene or person determines what is precevied from that square or box. Light is the main factor of that perception. What better way to show the contrast and composition of the light than with B&W. The next qestion for you pros is wouldn't we all be better photographers in all areas if we could get better at that light concept?
I had a teacher say once that the way to become a better photographer with color is learn how to be a good photographer with B&W. He said you will see color and its use in a new way. He also gave me a method to pratice with. He said at any point and place stop and frame a scene in your head. Then pick out the brightest highlights and the darkest spots. He said you will learn to see light in a new manner and make a better photog out of you.
Obiviously I failed to do the homework but believe it does work if practiced. That is my two cents worth. I still like both but have started garvitating back to B&W lately. In fact I have started shooting more film both 35mm and 120mm lately. I have even gone back to developing my own.
williamspics.smugmug.com