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Color more difficult than B/W

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Focus

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Apr 1, 2009, 2:38:30 PM4/1/09
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It's been said that B/W pictures are more pure or art, whatever, but I
always felt that color is more difficult to catch and please the eye.
After all, with B/W you only have to think about contrast, sharpness and
saturation. In color there's a whole new dimension.
Some colors together will give you a headache, but in B/W it looks fine.
Whitebalance is another problem.

Famous female photographer, Annie Leibovitz, even said she didn't know how
to make color pictures at first, because she was only taught B/W in school
and she had to learn it her self:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/annie-leibovitz/life-through-a-lens/16/

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---
Focus


Dudley Hanks

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Apr 1, 2009, 4:52:12 PM4/1/09
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"Focus" <do...@mail.me> wrote in message
news:762dnWHqldI1KU7U...@novis.pt...

In the world of film, colour processing definitely was more exacting than
BW. And, within the realm of colour, processing slides was even tougher
than negs. But, a lot depends on the desired result.

For instance, in my opinion, it's easier to capture the essence of a festive
scene with colour than it is with BW, especially in those scenes where
colourful costumes are present. BW can render the ocasion more starkly than
might be desired.

Take Care,
Dudley


Focus

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Apr 1, 2009, 5:39:38 PM4/1/09
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"Dudley Hanks" <photos....@dudley-hanks.com> wrote in message
news:0uQAl.21057$PH1.10994@edtnps82...


True, but with different lights it's much easier in B/W, because you got no
worries about white balance.

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---
Focus


Dudley Hanks

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Apr 1, 2009, 6:03:34 PM4/1/09
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"Focus" <do...@mail.me> wrote in message
news:3Lydna0M3LyGQk7U...@novis.pt...

Yep, mixed lighting is much easier in BW. Also, when shooting portraits,
kids, etc, some skin conditions will stick out like a sore thumb (pun
intended) when shooting with colour, whereas BW can mask the condition
fairly effectively. Even poorly applied makeup often is less noticeable
with BW shots.

Going back to the film world, sandwich prints tended to be easier with BW as
well, since putting two colour negs on top of each other often tended to
have undesireable results due to unforseen additive or subtractive
filtration effects.

Take Care,
Dudley


Nicko

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Apr 1, 2009, 9:21:59 PM4/1/09
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On Apr 1, 5:03 pm, "Dudley Hanks" <photos.digi...@dudley-hanks.com>
wrote:
> "Focus" <d...@mail.me> wrote in message
>
> news:3Lydna0M3LyGQk7U...@novis.pt...
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Dudley Hanks" <photos.digi...@dudley-hanks.com> wrote in message
> >news:0uQAl.21057$PH1.10994@edtnps82...
>
> >> "Focus" <d...@mail.me> wrote in message

> >>news:762dnWHqldI1KU7U...@novis.pt...
> >>> It's been said that B/W pictures are more pure or art, whatever, but I
> >>> always felt that color is more difficult to catch and please the eye.
> >>> After all, with B/W you only have to think about contrast, sharpness and
> >>> saturation. In color there's a whole new dimension.
> >>> Some colors together will give you a headache, but in B/W it looks fine.
> >>> Whitebalance is another problem.
>
> >>> Famous female photographer, Annie Leibovitz, even  said she didn't know
> >>> how to make color pictures at first, because she was only taught B/W in
> >>> school and she had to learn it her self:
>
> >>>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/annie-leibovitz/life...


Do you mean the effects of imprecise registration?

--
YOP...

bugbear

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Apr 2, 2009, 4:17:18 AM4/2/09
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Focus wrote:
> After all, with B/W you only have to think about contrast, sharpness and
> saturation. In color there's a whole new dimension.
> Some colors together will give you a headache, but in B/W it looks fine.
> Whitebalance is another problem.


Yes - I always shoot colour (digitally), but I sometimes
print B/W.

In particular some scenes suit the old "high contrast" trick,
which looks APALLING in colour!

As taken:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f234/bugbear33/contrast/colour_thistle.jpg

Art?

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f234/bugbear33/contrast/bw_hc_thistle.jpg

BugBear

Pat

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Apr 2, 2009, 10:04:44 AM4/2/09
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> http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/annie-leibovitz/life...
>
> --
> ---
> Focus

Pretty good April Fools posting. I think you got a few people with
it. Congrats !!!

Dudley Hanks

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Apr 2, 2009, 1:37:37 PM4/2/09
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"Nicko" <nervou...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:829c4645-2b89-434b...@y13g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...

--
YOP...


That's not what I meant, but that is another area where BW is easier to work
with than colour. If you want to overlay one BW image over another and
there is a screen involved, the margin of error is a bit wider than when
working with colour, where the screens have to align darn near perfectly.

My comments, however, were directed more towards what happens when you
overlay two (or more) colour images with colour mixing that doesn't always
work out the way one would want.

For instance, let's say you have a nice portrait that was taken on slide
film with a really light background. Since the background is almost clear
on the slide, you decide it'd be interesting to sandwich the image with a
nice seascape. The fleshtones in the image are dark enough to block out
most of the background, but the subject has a yellow / gold neck-chain which
is quite light, so a good portion of the blue shines through. The end
result is that the subject ends up with a green chain in the final print.

This is an overly simplistic example, but it illustrates the type of effect
I was referring to.

Take Care,
Dudley


Mr.T

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Apr 2, 2009, 10:27:42 PM4/2/09
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"bugbear" <bugbear@trim_papermule.co.uk_trim> wrote in message
news:VKudnXnUZYkT6UnU...@posted.plusnet...

> In particular some scenes suit the old "high contrast" trick,
> which looks APALLING in colour!
> As taken:
>
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f234/bugbear33/contrast/colour_thistle.jpg
> Art?
>
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f234/bugbear33/contrast/bw_hc_thistle.jpg


Certainly B&W is easier to work with in the darkroom, but I'm amazed how
many people think simply desaturating a boring color picture can turn it
into "art"!
Quality B&W pics are usually envisaged, shot, and printed as such in the
first place. And printing quality B&W from digital files is more difficult
IMO.

MrT.


Dan

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Apr 8, 2009, 7:28:21 PM4/8/09
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I process all types of film at home, and colour is as easy as B&W, and
reversal colour (positive) processing can have all the tricks and
techniques of B&W developing brought to the first developer stage.


Here is what I'm working on atm:
http://www.photodan.com.au/xtol-e6.html

Rob Morley

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Apr 8, 2009, 10:49:23 PM4/8/09
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On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 16:28:21 -0700 (PDT)
Dan <ath...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I process all types of film at home, and colour is as easy as B&W, and
> reversal colour (positive) processing can have all the tricks and
> techniques of B&W developing brought to the first developer stage.
>

I think people are generally talking about the different approach to
producing a monochrome result, rather than whatever means you use to
get there. Some pictures depend on colour and don't work in
monochrome, some depend on light and work better in monochrome,
some depend on form and will work in colour or monochrome.

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