how do you feel about color photography these days?

[jbielikowski]

so it's late spring, everything is crazy colorful, are you encouraged to use color more? or maybe it doesn't matter for you? or you only dig b&w no matter what? just food for thoughts.

 

[sjw617]

Have not shot b&w since the sixties .

 

[jojoman2]

I'm shooting mostly color these days. made these at my trip to the jersey shore this weekend, I brought 5 tri x and 4 portra 400, ended up shooting all of my portra and only half a roll of tri x. Some places demand to be photographed in color, in my opinion. Color and b&w are just tools. I would carry two cameras, one with b&w and the other color, but I have a feeling I would waste a crucial second guessing myself if I did.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I have not shot color seriously since the 1960's.

But I sure do enjoy looking at really good color street photography.😎

 

[telenous]

I use some colour in tandem with B&W, perhaps one roll of colour for every three B&W but I seem to be collecting the colour photographs I want with a slower pace. Colour has been mainstream since the 70s, so, to many, the question really is, "how does one feel about B&W". I'm sure there's an answer to that too:angel:

.

 

[ForestCap]

90% colour.
winter birds by
Shot with Jupiter-8 on Olympus PEN E-P3, SOOC colour JPG.




Sometimes I convert some colour images to b&w to make them look better. It doesn't work with all images though.

 

[nightfly]

Once I started shooting digital consistently a few years back, I only really shoot color.

I enjoyed shooting Tri-X for years but find once I've seen the image in color converting to black and white feels kind of forced and fake to me.

Right now I'm finding color much more fun and challenging. I'm actually amazed when I see threads here about brand new cameras and then 90% of the images are in black and white.

Just not where I'm at right now. Been digging back and looking at older color photography and getting more excited about it and less interested in B&W.

 

[35photo]

95% Color these days, it used to be the opposite for along time.. I find color more fun and exciting for me these days... B&W is cool just is a little limiting for my shooting style these days... I rather shoot digital with the option to convert to B&W if I want than to shoot B&W film straight up.. I do have a whole bunch of rolls of B&W film waiting to be developed and a roll still in my M6...

 

[charjohncarter]

I still like color film photography, but some of my oldies just reinforce my low level love of color film:

KodaChrome 1964 by John Carter, on Flickr

 

[noisycheese]

Whether I shoot color or B&W depends on the subject matter; some subjects - and some projects - need color; some need B&W.

 

[peterm1]

When I started photography seriously I naturally went for black and white believing this was the way to go. But I discovered I actually like and prefer color as it suits my way of seeing things. But I never shoot and use color shots straight from the camera. My style is to use color as part of the final presentation which means working on it substantially in post. Usually (not always) this means lowering the saturation and increasing contrast to evoke mood. Remember with color you have to work harder to make it interesting. Otherwise it runs the risk of just coming across as a "snapshot".

A couple of examples of mine:

Cafe Study 15 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Reflections 3 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

One photographer I really admire is Christophe Jacrot although his subject matter is different again from mine. However he is a consummate color photographer and I especially like his moody color shots taken in inclement weather.

http://christophejacrot.com/en/portfolio/hong-kong-in-the-rain/

The master of color photography has to be Saul Leiter (recently deceased)

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...ved=0ahUKEwjYppzbgIvNAhVEFZQKHWolBIUQ_AUIBigB

 

[Doug]

Though I had "known" earlier, it took the arrival of my M8 in 2008 to demonstrate that I was a color photographer. For years I'd shot a mix, and it was the creative interpretation in the darkroom that I liked most about B&W.

I intended to concentrate on B&W jpegs with the M8, but with some shots I was curious about the color version. As it turned out I inevitably preferred to have color even when muted. An important revelation!

 

[John Bragg]

I am one of those photographers who shoots exclusively in black and white. I can do colour, but my brain is hard wired to see shape, form and light, so composition is more important to me. I started out with mainly transparencies and developed my own with a jobo processor for years and then I started doing black and white and was instantly hooked. That first roll of FP4 I hand developed opened up a whole new world for me and I am never more at home than when I have a spare moment to process my latest shots.

 

[:: Mark]

I am currently shooting with Ektar 100, in attempt to explore a (very) different look to the usual HP5. Unfortunately it is the proving a challenge to get through enough film to justify mixing up the chemicals for the processing.

In part this is because I am perhaps too used to framing in monochrome and I am finding it difficult to find scenes where colour is a compositional element rather than a distraction. But it is also because I have a sense that what I am shooting is separate from, rather than complementary to, previous work.

I have a distinct project that I would like to shoot on 35mm colour film, but I do not think that I am ready yet.

 

[Richard G]

Sadder. Kodachrome..... Colour photography is till more difficult. Coping.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Until a few years ago, I shot virtually no color. I don't want to process color film at home, and the labs, even the best ones, always disappointed me by doing low-quality work.

When I got my Canon 5DmkII in 2012, I began shooting color more, and over the last four years, my color work has improved greatly. I used to 'see' in black & white, and had a hard time seeing color as anything but simple reproduction of the scene. I now shoot a lot of stuff that I 'see' in color, and that I don't think would 'work' in black and white. I'm starting to like color photography!

Here are some examples:

This was shot in the last light of the day, a time that I think really is beautiful for color work. I don't think this shot in this light at this time of day would have worked in black and white. I could have gotten a great BW photo of this subject, but it would have been under different light.

The color in this is so subtle, it is almost colorless. It could have worked in BW, but I think having the color, soft and almost invisible, makes this image magical. This was shot on a very early foggy morning.

In this one, the color is a compositional element that defines the negative and positive space in the image. I could have done a fine BW photograph of this subject in this light, but it would not have had the visual impact that the color gives it.

This one simply HAD to be in color. The whimsical playfulness of the scene, a children's playground in a park with the smiley face in the sky, would not have been conveyed by a monochrome image.

 

[johnnyrod]

Good shots Chris but the tree is inspired. It's a snippet from a much larger scene (i.e. the world) but picking it out makes it. And yes, the colour is key.

FWIW I shoot colour most of the time, though the comparative subtleties of B&W film are a thing of beauty. Getting the colour to work as an element in itself - room for improvement!

 

[mfogiel]

Have not shot colour since 2007. I simply feel, that it is too difficult to interpret colour in a way which is sufficiently subjective and still interesting, although a few photographers, like Harry Gruyaert actually manage that.
https://youpic.com/learn/video/2/interview-with-harry-gruyaert

ZI, C Sonnar 50
ON MY RAINY WAY TO WORK by marek fogiel, on Flickr

 

[Ko.Fe.]

These days I have film cameras mostly with bw film and all digital cameras set for color.

 

[FrozenInTime]

I'm settling into color for people especially friends and family and B&W more detached matter.