so/too much colour...

back alley

back alley

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i have 17 flickr pages of photos that i have posted so far in 2009.

while reviewing them, trying to choose 'the one' for a thread here at rff i realized that there were more colour shots than i have taken in many years.
this is a cause and effect of using the rd1 and shooting raw and seeing the images initially as colour. when looking over my shots i began to see that quite a few really would look better in black and white.

it bothers me as i have been a black and white shooter for so many years now...need to re-think it all.
 
Well, you've already sold your soul going from film to digital....

B+W to colour is peanuts. ;)

Just joking you!
 
As I look through all my favourites on flilckr, most are b&w, and nearly all the "best" of those are b&w. I'm just a b&w guy, and photography is, for me, b&w. I've made a commitment to myself that until I really good, I'll shoot b&w at least 80% of the time, 95% would be more like it. I realize it's easier to switch to colour with a digital, but really, the choice to shoot b&w in digital is the same kind of control as sticking a roll of b&w film in an analog camera.
 
I only shot B&W from when I started getting interested in photography until I got my first digital camera around 2002 (around 7 years).

Getting into digital, but being straight out of college and thus no money for photoshop and not to mention being totally ignorant about digital workflow I just transitioned to color. I always had trouble with color but after a couple years something "clicked".

The funny part is that I got back into film a couple years ago when I picked up a F100 to go along with my DSLR in order to shoot B&W film again. 6 months later I sold my DSLR and have gone back to film. However, Ive found that to this day I have continued to shoot more color and now prefer it. Probably shoot 65/45 color to b&w.
 
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I started shooting more color after I got my Kodak 14n, the 14 megapixel fullframe camera that Kodak made several yrs ago. I sold it last year to help finance some other gear I wanted as I had gone back to film, but when I used it, I discovered a lot of times I preferred the color original to my BW conversions. Certainly something to think about

turquoise-trail5.jpg


turquoise-trail3.jpg

Sometimes I liked both equally, as with the ones above.

glorieta-po2.jpg

This one was so much better in color that I do not have the BW version on my website.
 
Understand filters in B&W more now because of digital

Understand filters in B&W more now because of digital

I've been shooting film for a long time... Since the late 60's. Worked with color far more than B&W. I was always a bit disappointed with my B&W because I just couldn't handle control of B&W with filters in the field, and I didn't do my own processing.

Digital and a couple of good books about converting RAW images to B&W in Post Processing has been a great learning experience. So much control of color channels and filter effects.

Interestingly, that may translate into a stronger commitment to shoot some film and actually put filters in front of the lenses for B&W control.
 
I started shooting digital seriously in black and white last year but more recently have changed to experimenting a lot with color. But I like subdued color rather than full on color so most times I partially desaturate and add a tone to soften the color as in this example. Kind of half and half.

3754746386_5d9f9bacc6_b.jpg
 
Tom Harrell said:
Nice shot Peter! I like that subdued color for certain photo effects! How is that achieved, using software I suppose?

Tom
Click to expand...

Thanks Tom. Much appreciated. Yes I mainly use Corel Paintshop Pro Photo 12 although I also have a copy of Photoshop Elements that came with a scanner. I prefer the Corel product as it has a few more features than Elements. Usually after performing all the normal post production edits like digital camera noise reduction and image sharpening I will then experiment with effects such as lowering the saturation of the image and in this case I also added some vignette and dodged / burned the shot so just the main subject was the key point of focus. I appreciate that this is widely regarded as"too much" editing on this forum but I don't much care so long as I get a result I like.

I have a lot of examples on my Flickr pages. Although occasionally I will also use a strong color as a point of interest. (Reflection of a bright red letter box if my memory is correct.)

4217241318_0e7fa1882a_o.jpg
 
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Are you afraid by shooting color you'll be kicked out of the "serious photographer" club? The real world is in color. Why would you want to manipulate reality by shooting it in B&W? ;)

To me, it was always a control issue. Because I could easily control the B&W process, by developing and printing my own photos, I shot primarily B&W from the 1960's until digital SLR's become (somewhat) affordable. Once I was able to control the entire workflow sitting at my computer, I switched to shooting primarily color.

I don't see why it would concern the OP that he is shooting more color.
 
Peter, I like your approach. Muted colors have this mood to it, but with people shots I'm afraid they tend to look a little "ill".

Cheers, martin
 
martin s said:
Peter, I like your approach. Muted colors have this mood to it, but with people shots I'm afraid they tend to look a little "ill".

Cheers, martin
Click to expand...

Thank you too Martin. I agree and will often add some color back in to the main subject's skin tones for this reason.
 
Peter,
I certainly like your approach! It certainly makes this photo "pop!" My daughter sent me a Christmas card that is a scene of an old house with a porch! In the window of the house can be seen a Christmas tree! On one of the post of the porch an American flag is hung! The flag is the only thing in the picture that is in color! I have looked at that card and thought to myself "I'd like to do something like that with B& W film!" I know it has been done before by using oils and etc. I really like the look you have achieved!
Tom
 
I'm Shooting Digital. It's Color... I don't know what to do. I've lost my soul...

Bluto, what should I do!

Either buy a monochrome digital camera or Just pour some acetone on the Bayer Filter.

3085141161_3f6835fa5d_b.jpg


If the latter ruins YOUR camera, "Face it Flounder... you Trusted me."
 
I've got nothing against colour and shoot it occasionally but certainly not often. To me though a black and white image can convey a sense of drama purely through it's tones and light ... this is what photography is all about to me.

YMMV of course though Joe ... but on judgement day you will wish you had shot more black and white! :angel:
 
I also like the selective desaturating effect afforded due to digital post processing. I´ve used it quite a bit, but quite as successively as Peter has here.

Colour or B+W? I don´t really care. Whatever makes the shot.
 
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