Love B&W, so why are my pics mostly color?

[bwcolor]

I love many of the B&W photos that I see on this forum. There are a number of members with a god given talent and finely honed skill. I love their B&W photos. I'm not so sure about the photos that I take, but I have fun. If you are having fun, then shoot whatever. I prefer B&W, but sometimes I see a color photo that just jumps out of the page.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I am SO enjoying the present "Pre-Teen" years. We both enjoy the same movies and shows. Usually the quality of the movie is based on the number of Spaceships exploding.

She also loves Photography, although the Nintendo DSi with its built in camera with image processing software is currently the favorite.

No B&W mode.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

In about 1 year and 3 months I will be chasing at least one Teenage Girl!

When I was 19, I was chasing a 25 year old. And when I was 21, I was chasing a 34 year old.

And now you spend your evenings hanging around the retirement home with a handful of early bird coupons from Denny's and a rakish gleam in your eye...

 

[Chris101]

I am SO enjoying the present "Pre-Teen" years. We both enjoy the same movies and shows. Usually the quality of the movie is based on the number of Spaceships exploding.

She also loves Photography, although the Nintendo DSi with its built in camera with image processing software is currently the favorite.

No B&W mode.

But it DOES have mustache mode and googly eyes mode. My 9yo photographer LOVES those!

 

[bo_lorentzen]

Maybe the fact you are photographing in color is also the answer.

When you stick a roll of B&W in the camera, the physics of the film pre-determines the contrast and graduations of the negative, however when you shoot a color neg and think about turning it into B&W you suddenly have a multitude of choices to deal with, you can add contrast etc. in photoshop you can even simulate yellow, red and green filters to get the look you want... so the big difference is that shooting a roll of color simply mean you are not done with the B&W yet. Personally I prefer shooting a roll of B&W to color when I want B&W because I don't get stuck with the color negative. 😀

.

Bo

www.bophoto.typepad.com

 

[Keith]

Love B&W, so why are my pics mostly color?

It's easy to make a mainstream impact with colour IMO ... hence all the lovely over saturated pics of puppies and flowers etc on biscuit tins and stationary shop calenders. I'm not saying colour photography can't be 'art' ... but for me it generally isn't and represents more of a reportage genre.

I find when I actually deliberately use colour it takes over, stops me from seeing the light and becomes the whole image rather than just contributing to it!

 

[MartinL]

For me, some images work better as color, some better as B&W, so I use both. The great thing about raw files is that I get to choose later instead of when I load the film in the camera.

Roughly what's your BW/color ratio? And why do you suppose it works out that way?

I'm comfortable with my general photo decision-making and can explain most of my selection criteria. But the BW/color decisions seem pretty arbitrary.

Regarding bo's comment: that's what I meant by making a single decision at the point of loading the camera--at least when carrying only one camera.

Anyway, here are two pics--selected because I know the subjects and caught them at a moment personally memorable. When I decided to do the entire on-line gallery in BW, I regretted the loss of color. However, in the gallery context, I find much to prefer about the BW.

 

[MartinL]

It's easy to make a mainstream impact with colour IMO ... hence all the lovely over saturated pics of puppies and flowers etc on biscuit tins and stationary shop calenders. I'm not saying colour photography can't be 'art' ... but for me it generally isn't and represents more of a reportage genre.

I find when I actually deliberately use colour it takes over, stops me from seeing the light and becomes the whole image rather than just contributing to it!

Basically, I agree. I wonder what percentage of photoshop users ever use their DEsaturate capacity in order to tone down distracting or unnatural color impact.

However, it's a mystery to me why BW or color would be more artful, or in any sense more calendar or reportage or. . .? There IS something philosophical going on here, but I'm not getting it. This isn't a "versus" or "better" issue for me, it's more about figuring out my own response to my photos.

 

[pakeha]

QUOTE by Keith
It's easy to make a mainstream impact with colour IMO ... hence all the lovely over saturated pics of puppies and flowers etc on biscuit tins and stationary shop calenders. I'm not saying colour photography can't be 'art' ... but for me it generally isn't and represents more of a reportage genre.

1 Hour Ago 16:40
Yes, agree also. As i was reading through this thread the same thought was formulating in my mind, and there at the top of page two ,it was🙂

I look at a B&W image and immediatley start looking for the intention of the photographer before considering composition, contrast or even subject. But when i look at a colour print the process is reversed for me, that is - subject, saturation,composition, so i find B&W always more involving on an artistic level.Not to say colour does not work in the same way, just not often for me.