black and white why bother

[tenter10]

Hello: when I was growing up all we had was B&W and wasn't it awful,stark,depressing.Colour came along and we could record what we see. Great .But now everyone seems to want to go back to ugly B&W. Why? You do know our brain does register colour?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Hello: when I was growing up all we had was B&W and wasn't it awful,stark,depressing.Colour came along and we could record what we see. Great .But now everyone seems to want to go back to ugly B&W. Why? You do know our brain does register colour?

Not really, no.

Cheers,

R.

 

[magicianhisoka]

Black and white just works for some of us. I see the value in it artistically.

 

[rxmd]

I can't help noticing that while coloured pencils have been around for a while, some people still draw things with ordinary pencils. Why? Don't they know our brain registers things in colour?

 

[btgc]

What we see has nothing common with what exists. Read Castaneda.

If you did, then I can answer - rebirth of B&W probably is caused by massive amounts of meaningless color pictures over last decades since technology allowed use it daily. When masses will produce comparable amount od B&W crap (incl. converted from color), masses will move on next big thing. Btw, did you notice HDR fad (think, it gone already)? People always will search for ways to present their cats and sunsets in a way which at least looks different from what have been done before them. Poor them, cats always are just cats.

 

[kiemchacsu]

The best thing that I like from the RFF is everyday I can experience topics that I would even never thought about it, and this thread is an example. Interesting approach indeed!

 

[haempe]

...But now everyone seems to want to go back to ugly B&W...

I don't see everyone going back to B/W...

But for me:
Too much color all around. Inflationary. Distracting.
B/W brings the form back into game...

 

[gavinlg]

I shoot much more color then b&w, but I think that b&w is truly the 'pure' medium of photography. For some reason, I just find it somehow to be more engaging when done correctly.

One of the big things for me, is that if a shot doesn't work in b&w, it generally holds no weight in color either. This isn't always the case, but I have found it to be with my work.

 

[rxmd]

People always will search for ways to present their cats and sunsets in a way which at least looks different from what have been done before them. Poor them, cats always are just cats.

(from xkcd 262)

 

[tenter10]

The best thing that I like from the RFF is everyday I can experience topics that I would even never thought about it, and this thread is an example. Interesting approach indeed!

🙂well at least its out there, Hows Hanoi I have never been my family are just south east of Hue. jack

 

[tenter10]

I can't help noticing that while coloured pencils have been around for a while, some people still draw things with ordinary pencils. Why? Don't they know our brain registers things in colour?

🙂apparently not

 

[craygc]

Hello: when I was growing up all we had was B&W and wasn't it awful,stark,depressing.Colour came along and we could record what we see. Great .But now everyone seems to want to go back to ugly B&W. Why? You do know our brain does register colour?

The post reads a little like a troll but anyways...

Your brain actually processes a lot more information around luminosity than it does about colour. In a similar analogy, its why somethings are photographed in infrared or using gamma rays and x-rays, sure you can't see those but by mapping it back to a visible spectrum it shows you something that wasn't visible otherwise. B&W photography presents basic form, pattern and luminous constructs of a scene that you can't see clearly when its masked by colour.

Just because your brain "registers" colour it says nothing about what it conveys to, or interprets from it.

A little harsh, but honest, is if you've made the original statement in any seriousness, what you are saying is that you have no clue about the characteristics of photographic imagery at all, let alone B&W.

 

[Brian Legge]

I enjoy shooting black and white. I don't find this dark/depressing/grainy/etc. I've had the opposite statement thrown at some of my recent results, that it is too clean and lacks character.

Beyond liking black and white, color is both a hassle and doesn't really fit how I see right now.

 

[tenter10]

The post reads a little like a troll but anyways...

Your brain actually processes a lot more information around luminosity than it does about colour. In a similar analogy, its why somethings are photographed in infrared or using gamma rays and x-rays, sure you can't see those but by mapping it back to a visible spectrum it shows you something that wasn't visible otherwise. B&W photography presents basic form, pattern and luminous constructs of a scene that you can't see clearly when its masked by colour.

Just because your brain "registers" colour it says nothing about what it conveys to, or interprets from it.

A little harsh, but honest, is if you've made the original statement in any seriousness, what you are saying is that you have no clue about the characteristics of photographic imagery at all, let alone B&W.

🙂 Well this statement was a clear as mud. To me taking a photo is so that I can remember what I had seen at that time,record it, record the colours like the sunrises in Vietnam in 66, the volcanoes in the Philippines on my way to vietnam.I want to have a photo of my mother in the beautiful dress she had on in 48 but I can,t, all my early photos of my parents are in what some of you refer to as artisticly pure.What garbage! I want to see my dad with his beautiful tanned skin.The wonderful contrast of my mothers english complexion to her magnificent choice of colour.To me that is what photography is all about. jack

 

[thegman]

For whatever reason sometimes B&W works better for a lot of photographs, maybe we're just raised to think "B&W photo = Art, Colour = holiday snap". I'm as guilty as the next on this forum for using B&W to enhance a photo.

But if you can only appreciate reality represented as close to that reality as possible, then photography is probably not the right medium. Probably HD video, with sound would get you as close as possible.

 

[Roger Hicks]

🙂 Well this statement was a clear as mud. To me taking a photo is so that I can remember what I had seen at that time,record it, record the colours like the sunrises in Vietnam in 66, the volcanoes in the Philippines on my way to vietnam.I want to have a photo of my mother in the beautiful dress she had on in 48 but I can,t, all my early photos of my parents are in what some of you refer to as artisticly pure.What garbage! I want to see my dad with his beautiful tanned skin.The wonderful contrast of my mothers english complexion to her magnificent choice of colour.To me that is what photography is all about. jack

Dear Jack,

The clue to your animosity lies in this phrase.

Fine. You want happy-snaps. But there are other aspects to photography. Your value judgements -- 'awful, stark, depressing' and 'garbage' -- do not resonate with all of us. Mostly, though, we are too polite to label your views 'garbage'.

Cheers,

R.

 

[kully]

I don't think it needs to be mutually exclusive at all. I'd never thought of one being better than the other (except it being more difficult to get things right in a colour photograph than a monochrome).

What you say rings true mind, it would be good to see some of those old B&W photos I have in nice colour. Actually, sometimes I'd much prefer to see some boring, tacky, crap photos from a cheap digital taken when my grandparents were young than a hundred fine-art exhibitions.

Where are you from, where you spell 'colour' and mention Vietnam?

 

[tenter10]

🙂

I don't think it needs to be mutually exclusive at all. I'd never thought of one being better than the other (except it being more difficult to get things right in a colour photograph than a monochrome).

What you say rings true mind, it would be good to see some of those old B&W photos I have in nice colour. Actually, sometimes I'd much prefer to see some boring, tacky, crap photos from a cheap digital taken when my grandparents were young than a hundred fine-art exhibitions.

Where are you from, where you spell 'colour' and mention Vietnam?

mate I am from australia, and we still use english spellings colour honour, humour, I was in Vietnam a long time ago and the colours on the way and there were great,as is coming home our greens are unique. The eucalyptas mists above the mountains give it its own tone.Like nowhere else that I have seen jack

 

[Moriturii]

Expensive.

 

[ricnak]

Jack - MATE!

have you been drinking?