DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> b/w sucks
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 20 of 20, (reverse)
AuthorThread
07/29/2002 09:25:41 AM · #1
I'm trying to understand why some people hate black and white so much. In the latest challenge, I'm seeing comments like the one I used as the subject, and also "b/w ruined this pic," "b/w 2" and so forth.

To those of you who hate b/w, and especially the person who left "b/w sucks" and the above comments, can you tell the rest of us what it is that makes you find black and white so repulsive?

-Terry
07/29/2002 09:50:00 AM · #2
Juggie..you have been here long enough to know you will never figure out the comments...heheh :-)

For curiosity..anyone who reads this thread. How many of you have ever been critiqued on art or music or literature stuff before DP Challenge?

I mean't to ask this before in other threads but got sidetracked.

Me? I have been taking music lessons, art lessons, acting you name it since I was 8 years old. I am used to the critiqueing process to a degree I guess. Not necessarily a good thing :-/
07/29/2002 09:55:51 AM · #3
Originally posted by hokie:
Juggie..you have been here long enough to know you will never figure out the comments...heheh :-)

Oh, I'm well aware of that. But, the person who left those particular comments reads the forums. I'm hoping he'll see this and reply, along with others who dislike black and white.

-Terry
07/29/2002 09:58:19 AM · #4
I personally love b&w. It is just difficult to get the proper contrast to make the picture perfect.
07/29/2002 10:00:35 AM · #5
I like black and white, even if using it for the last couple weeks seems to not be friendly to my score. Now "How many of you have ever been critiqued on art or music or literature stuff before DP Challenge?"


I have done a lot of worshop work for writing (or writing about) literature so I am pretty use to the process. It is all a matter of using the feedback, and IMO of being the judge of the feedback if you want it to work for you. Not all feedback is good feedback, and you have to judge as best you can what is and what is not based on who is giving the feedback and how much time was put into the feedback.

Basically you have to "know" when the other guy is wrong, without starting to think the other guy is always wrong.


07/29/2002 10:02:09 AM · #6
I think a lot of folks use black and white to save a photo that may have a good compositional element but the lighting and color are not good enough to survive as a color photo.

Sometimes that means a good photo is made from a so-so photo. But sometimes that means a boring photo is made even more boring.

But for people to make a blanket statement that "B/W Sucks" doesn't sound like a person who is going to give you much good reason to understand their viewmpoint..

Would Beavis or Butthead be able to really tell you what makes them tick :-)
07/29/2002 10:05:26 AM · #7
hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe

he said butt ...


hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe
07/29/2002 10:24:25 AM · #8
First of all...Terry.. I love B&W. And I have no idea which photo is yours in this challenge. I will say that I think there are certain photos that are only enhanced by B&W. There are some photos where there is no reason to make them B&W. I think you should use B&W for some emotional impact. Or at the very least, to show the contrast or abstract view of something.

Also, Hokie...I received most of my critique experience in college. That's where we would all put our work up against the wall and the instructor would come along and say what was wrong with each one and turn them face down, and your heart would just beat hard in your chest as they neared yours. There were rarely few left standing. The students also critiqued and I think that's where you build up a lot of your thick skin at some point. You have to be willing not to take it personally and to see it as something to learn by. Even if you don't agree with them, in most cases you can validate their point of view. In Terry's case....saying B&W sucks is obviously just from someone who has little experience or expertise. If you're going to critique something, you can't form your opinions about abstract, b&w, grain..etc, and use that as a stereotype to say...ALL b&w is bad, ALL grain is bad, ALL abstract is bad....sure, you're going to have your likes and dislikes for anything, but you can't let that influence you so much that you don't study a photo for other qualities. You can't just open a photo up and say..oh, it's B&W, I hate B&W, therefore it rates a 1 from me.

Having said all that...I also understand that there are a lot of folks whose opinions aren't the same and you just have to deal with it.

Karen :)


07/29/2002 10:29:22 AM · #9
Originally posted by clubjuggle:
I'm trying to understand why some people hate black and white so much. In the latest challenge, I'm seeing comments like the one I used as the subject, and also "b/w ruined this pic," "b/w 2" and so forth.

To those of you who hate b/w, and especially the person who left "b/w sucks" and the above comments, can you tell the rest of us what it is that makes you find black and white so repulsive?

-Terry


I won't mention names, we both know who wrote "B&W 2". I got the same comment. Obviously he didn't even bother looking at the image. Saw it was B&W and scored it accordingly, sad really :-)
07/29/2002 10:30:31 AM · #10
Karen,

All very good points, thanks.

My question, though, referred to comments left on photos in the textures, challenge, which I didn't enter. The comments were left on several photos by one person and in aggregate suggested that the person categorically hated b/w. I know there are others that feel that way, I just want to understand why.

-Terry
07/29/2002 10:30:52 AM · #11
That's so strange. In the texture competition, I got a comment stating my leaf should have been taken in black and white. The way I see this issue is, it's just a matter of taste.
07/29/2002 10:31:16 AM · #12
Originally posted by hokie:


For curiosity..anyone who reads this thread. How many of you have ever been critiqued on art or music or literature stuff before DP Challenge?


I took a few fiction writing classes in college. Process and results being quite similar...'experimental' technical things (fcuking with punctuation or grammar or such) often were heavily critiqued not because they were poorly done, but because they were unfamiliar.
07/29/2002 10:41:48 AM · #13
I guess what I was looking for in the "how much have you been critiqued" question was the thick skin aspect.

When I was a child getting critiqued I took it much better. I wanted to please the folks and worked harder to modify my skills.

As I got into my teens the critqueing became more of a reflection of me..I din't take it with the wide eyed enthusiasm of a pre-pube child.

In my college years I took criticism in relation to the people that gave it. Professors and students I respected and/or wished I was as talented as I paid more attention to than the business majors who were clapping for credit :-/

As a working adult I paid attention to who wrote the check :-)

And now as a curmudgeon I say screw it..I do what I want >:-)
07/29/2002 10:53:35 AM · #14
Oh....who would have thunk it? I have a new goal in life....to be like Hokie! I can't wait till I can saw "screw it all" and do what I want. Freedom.
07/29/2002 11:01:54 AM · #15
Originally posted by KDJohnson:
Oh....who would have thunk it? I have a new goal in life....to be like Hokie! I can''t wait till I can saw "screw it all" and do what I want. Freedom.


Hah!! It don''t win as many friends or influence people as the other approaches but I figure people take what they want anyway and ignore the rest...being ignored is cool!!

I let my wife worry about being the one loved by all and leave everybody else wondering why she tolerates me...<:P

* This message has been edited by the author on 7/29/2002 11:01:50 AM.
07/29/2002 11:14:12 AM · #16
Originally posted by hokie:
I think a lot of folks use black and white to save a photo that may have a good compositional element but the lighting and color are not good enough to survive as a color photo.

Sometimes that means a good photo is made from a so-so photo. But sometimes that means a boring photo is made even more boring.

But for people to make a blanket statement that "B/W Sucks" doesn't sound like a person who is going to give you much good reason to understand their viewmpoint..

Would Beavis or Butthead be able to really tell you what makes them tick :-)


I agree on the black and white saving a color photo. I love black and whites where it is appropriate. Maybe a nice tutorial on camera white balance and level adjustments to fix tungsten glows would be appropriate...
07/29/2002 11:30:35 AM · #17
Originally posted by jmsetzler:

I agree on the black and white saving a color photo. I love black and whites where it is appropriate. Maybe a nice tutorial on camera white balance and level adjustments to fix tungsten glows would be appropriate...


You are definitely qualified for that John. You have good control over your color balancing and lighting issues.

I struggle a lot with tungsten glows and white balance issues. I have 3 main light sources in my office when I shoot. A regular 60 watt lamp, a flourescent desk lamp and a halogen floor lamp. Usually all going at the same time to get enough light in my dungeon.

Talk about wide ranges of color temperatures!! I confuse my photoshop auto tooling so much it takes me an hour to color correct even to an acceptable level.
07/29/2002 11:42:24 AM · #18
Originally posted by hokie:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
[i]
I agree on the black and white saving a color photo. I love black and whites where it is appropriate. Maybe a nice tutorial on camera white balance and level adjustments to fix tungsten glows would be appropriate...


You are definitely qualified for that John. You have good control over your color balancing and lighting issues.

I struggle a lot with tungsten glows and white balance issues. I have 3 main light sources in my office when I shoot. A regular 60 watt lamp, a flourescent desk lamp and a halogen floor lamp. Usually all going at the same time to get enough light in my dungeon.

Talk about wide ranges of color temperatures!! I confuse my photoshop auto tooling so much it takes me an hour to color correct even to an acceptable level.
[/i]

Hokie, your G2 should have as good of a white balance capability as my F707. I have started using the manual white balance mode where I focus on a white piece of paper under my lighting and then press the button. The camera does a pretty good job of determining the correct values for the ambient light temps...
07/29/2002 11:50:38 AM · #19
Oh the G2 saves my a$$ for sure! If it wasn't for its various functions I would be even worse off.

I still end up confusing it if I use something other than tungsten or natural light as my main source. The halogen really throws the thing into a tailspin and I have learned to filter that light with an apropriatley colored shear silk drape when I use that lamp real close.

I just need to get off my lazy butt and get some of those clamp on lights that connie was using in her tutorial. They would be a cheap way to standardize my lights to one color temp.
07/29/2002 11:59:15 AM · #20
Originally posted by hokie:
Oh the G2 saves my a$$ for sure! If it wasn't for its various functions I would be even worse off.

I still end up confusing it if I use something other than tungsten or natural light as my main source. The halogen really throws the thing into a tailspin and I have learned to filter that light with an apropriatley colored shear silk drape when I use that lamp real close.

I just need to get off my lazy butt and get some of those clamp on lights that connie was using in her tutorial. They would be a cheap way to standardize my lights to one color temp.


My leaf photo for the b/w challenge was done under a 500w halogen light... I was still able to clean up the color version to THIS LEVEL.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/29/2024 01:34:56 AM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/29/2024 01:34:56 AM EDT.