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08/01/2004 03:30:00 AM · #1 |
While I have not been taking photos long enough to have noticed a distinct style in what I shoot, I have noticed that while I like many colorful images, it is the B&W images that I spend a lot of time studying. A grey-scaled image must rely on composition, contrast and tonal range to produce its impact. Color is nice, and a well done color image is a wonder to behold, but it can be so overwhelming at times. In a colorful image I find myself looking first at the colors, then at the composition and such.
I was browsing the magazines and books at a local book store today, and while there were several books and magazines that covered all manner of photography, the magazine Black and White really stood out as the best by far -- and the one that left the building with me.
What do you think? What makes a good B&W image? Is it contrast, tonal range or all that and more? I am looking for any thoughts and comments on B&W photography in general, or specifically about some aspect of it. I had always looked at color to be the more advanced form of photography, so it is somewhat of a suprise for me to now think it not so. Could it be that B&W has been around longer and has developed a greater degree of expertise available to its craftsmen? Could it be that it is just easier to do?
Tell me what you think of B&W photography. Show me what you have discovered about it -- all the gritty details that I would have to wait until I have viewed hundreds or thousands more photos to notice on my own.
David
I think I am asking for a lot. :D
BTW: if you do film photography, B&W magazine is accepting submissions for the next two months. This is the first submission window for this magazine in two years. They are limited to film photography though, to put it in their own words:
"Our policy regarding digital photography in unchanged. For publication, we accept only prints made the conventional way (film/darkroom); work captured and printed digitally is not accepted (there is no value judgement in this -- only a reflection of Black & White Magazine's limited focus). ..."
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08/01/2004 04:20:33 AM · #2 |
What makes a good photo?
Composition, subject, mood, message, interplay of color, texture....
The challenge of Black and White is that you need to convey this without the 'assistance' of color. Without color you are left with fewer elements to play with...
If you remove one of your senses (i.e. wear a blindfold) you will find that your other senses become stronger... smells, sounds and tastes...
I think of B & W in a similar way... removing color focuses the viewers attention on other elements of the photo i.e. textures. |
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08/01/2004 04:30:39 AM · #3 |
| I think you're onto something here. Color is powerful, but sometimes less components make a photo's message more direct. John Paul Coponigro has some good discussion about this in this book Adobe Photoshop Master Class. I think macros can be more dynamic for the same reason--there are less components so the components used become more meaningful. In addtion to all that there is a certain degree of sophistication that seems to be inherently attached to any BW image. Perhaps this comes from the very fact that it is BW or perhaps it is a product of our subconscious associations with classical BW images? |
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08/01/2004 12:04:02 PM · #4 |
These days i am reading book called "The Black and White Hand Book by Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz.
Amazing book,One sentence that i read really made an impact, BW photography is Art, Craft and Science.
Art because of Composition
Craft because effort in Printing
Science because of understanding your equipment i.e if your meter say 5.6 does it mean 5.6 or say 4.8.
I have been doing BW i.e coverting color to BW, I can say above statement makes lot of sense, you might call me obessive but i have taken print of same snap using different technicues, i read how fine prints are made using dutone and i did same and belive me it came lot better than my channel mixer ways.
Message edited by author 2004-08-01 12:04:52. |
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08/01/2004 12:15:41 PM · #5 |
you have to SEE in black and white to make a good BW photo. it's not something that comes naturally - you have to practice because the world is full of color. the tones of one color are the same as another when done in BW. you also need to learn to see contrast in a different way because of this.
done properly a BW image can add drama to a scene - can portray a different mood than a color photo can.
i enjoy BW photos much more - in general - than color.
color - i use - much of the time as the subject - if i don't want color to BE the subject of the photo i tend to make them black and white.
i suggest - rather than just converting images you have taken to BW, to see how they look - going out with the intent of shooting BW images - pretend you have a BW sensor in the camera. i think you'll see what i am saying.
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08/01/2004 12:25:44 PM · #6 |
What makes a good photograph, IMO, isn't really defined by its color or lack of. Some images certainly do look better one way or the other, but the image has to have its strength on the subjective side before either format works well.
If you take a look around DPChallenge and the winning photographs, you will learn something quickly about color. A strong color image has certain qualities about the color as well. See if you can figure out what it is :)
Strong black and white images have certain characteristics as well. Since you have been browsing some good journals of black and white photography, take a look at one of them again. Find a photograph that you consider to be amazing and then ask yourself why it's so great. Beyond the subject itself, you do often find exposure and printing techniques that bring certain elements forward in the image. A wide tonal range throughout the image often looks nice, but there are the high contrast images to consider also. These images lack midtone values usually. So, defining what makes a good image can't really be nailed down to one or two specific elements. "Mood" may be the only single element that creates a strong photo. Black and white can create a mood that may not have been present in color.
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08/01/2004 01:45:03 PM · #7 |
I have grown up with Photography meaning only BW, Color Photography sadly does not exist for me, i have to shoot color for my family but when i shoot,my aim is to shoot BW.
I don't why i like BW so much, sadly for me i am like the only Photographer in family hence no supporters.
I am eagerly waiting for that day in my life when i know my own house so that i can frame my BW photographs.
I realize one thing , Photography is similar to life, both are like climbing stair case, What i mean when you climb the first step you are happy but soon that feeling subside's and you like move on to next step.
Earlier i wanted tyo shoot typical soft studio shots , now i have started playing lot with light, lighting my shots keeping in mind BW image, it is like i have started viewing everything in BW
I would be glad if some one can pin point to some great web site on BW photography. |
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08/01/2004 02:02:04 PM · #8 |
i'm a big fan of guy tillim
//www.michaelstevenson.com/exhibitions/departure.htm#catalogue
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08/01/2004 02:07:12 PM · #9 |
| My introduction to "serious" photography was helping Lonny Shavelson do the design/type/layout for his first two books (Personal Ads Portraits and I'm Not Crazy ...) |
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08/01/2004 03:24:49 PM · #10 |
While I enjoy colour photography for all its splendour and glory, b + w's can afford us a different sense and transport into realms rarely penetrated by colour images. Since the advent of colour, b + w's, really, have become a reductive mode of seeing and rendering. When much of the visual information is suppressed, emphasis shifts, and the image impacts us differently. I speculate that the loss of colour data is replaced by a greater effort to imagine as well as by a natural inclination to follow the remaining elements of the picture, which are more defined, prominent and, probably, recognizable, when stripped of colour.
The effect, I believe, is latent rather than tangible and immediate. While more immediate and instinctively enjoyable stimuli work quite easily with our primary sensations (sight, smell, sound and touch), there are sensations of thought, mood (as John has already acknowledged), disposition, relation, order and value which are better invoked by selective emphasis.
Given this, it doesn't really surprise me that b + w images often speak to us very clearly and profoundly of human and phenomenological complexities, only touched or, perhaps, savoured by their colour counterparts.
Message edited by author 2004-08-01 15:25:42.
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08/01/2004 06:01:38 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
I speculate that the loss of colour data is replaced by a greater effort to imagine as well as by a natural inclination to follow the remaining elements of the picture, which are more defined, prominent and, probably, recognizable, when stripped of colour. |
I remember back when most of prime-time TV was still in B+W (and somewhat watchable) that I would always be trying to figure out what color clothing the characters were wearing. |
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08/02/2004 09:54:03 AM · #12 |
I think that members here are posting more and more EXCELLENT black and white images and invite you to browse MY favourites collection (via my profile) to see some superb examples. You can see just how many of my recent selections have been black and white images.
I don't personally find black and white more difficult than colour but do think one needs to think differently when taking an image in black and white (or that will be desaturated to black and white).
When I first became interested in photography and persuaded the parents to buy me an SLR for my 11th birthday a few friends and I persuaded our school to let us convert a disused pottery kiln room into a B&W darkroom and to use it during our lunch periods and after school. We took an extra exam at 16 based on the work we had created. I will never forget the pleasure of that experience and still have a rather large soft spot for black and white images although I no longer hold an image down in the chemicals with my hand and then use it for eating my sandwich a moment later!
Some elements required in a good image are in common for colour and B&W:
*Strong composition - whether that's achieved by referring to rule of thirds, golden mean, S curves, leading lines, perspective or by breaking all the rules, it's a definite priority
*Content that communicates, appeals, surprises
Some that are particularly relevent for black and white (though not exclusive to):
*Texture - black and white can really isolate the texture of a surface or item in a way that colour doesn't always allow
*Tone - as has been said, two colours that contrast may have a similar tone, two colours that don't work together in a colour image may complement each other perfectly when reduced to two different greys. It does take a little practice to be able to "see" how colours will translate into black and white at the point of shooting the image but it does come
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08/02/2004 12:20:54 PM · #13 |
You commented that B&W is perhaps simpler, but that depends on how far you are going to take it. For film, the chemicals and enlarger used for basic B&W are less expensive and easier to work with. But, when you start looking at fine art B&W, the toners and processes become quite complicated. If you want to put things on a difficult scale, my opinion would be:
Film
1) Basic B&W
2) Color
3) Fine art B&W
Digital changes this. Color is relatively straightforward and no special tools are required. B&W becomes more complicated because it's difficult for the software and hardware to provide all the levels of gray that we need.
Digital
1) Color
2) Basic B&W
3) Fine art B&W
I have a few more thoughts on the topic of B&W, but I'll let this post focus on the idea of simplicity.
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08/02/2004 12:46:16 PM · #14 |
If you look at people considered to be "masters" of photography, you will see that many shoot black and white. You will also probably find that many use basic equipment with standard lenses. I think that this is the most difficult type of photography because you cannot rely on color or perspective to add interest. What the photographer has to work with is subject, composition and texture. I think a good B&W image is fasinating because these are the only attributes that you see.
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08/02/2004 01:30:44 PM · #15 |
| There is such a subjective side to what makes a good photo that it seems to be difficult to really define. I visited an art gallery this past weekend that specializes in fine art photography and was absolutely amazed by the difference in seeing original prints (printed by the photographers themselves) compared to reproductions in a book. One particular original print by Paul Coponigro of two pears in a wooden bowl seemed to almost glow even though it is B&W. I assume that a large part of this is the skill in printing that these master photographers possess. This particular shot really stood out to me above the dozens we looked at (even a couple of original Ansel Adams) even though the composition and subject was about as simple as it could be. The tonal qualities in the B&W print were outstanding, but still I think the impact the picture had on the viewer was so subjective, that at least to me it seems hard to say what exactly gives a photo that emotional impact that makes it appeal to a particular person. |
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08/02/2004 01:46:28 PM · #16 |
Any kind of photography rely on composition. When you shot an interesting scene, it will be interesting in any fashion. But sometimes a tone mades the diference. That is why Ansel Adams pictures (all B&W) are so beuatiful and interesting at now. The B&W look gives you the freedom to explore the space, and use that brain slice, before used to recognize colors to be free to see the form and nuances.
B&W generally hides imperfections and mades places to have a straight felling asside.
But B&W requires more tought to shot than color pictures of the same subject. |
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