Why B&W?

Surfing through picture sharing sites like Flickr, PBase and Smugmug, I
can't help notice that a lot of people post what would otherwise be pretty
good photos in Black and White. Why do they do that? Do they think it
automatically make their work 'art'?

Don't know about you, but in 30 odd years of film and digital photography
I've never felt the urge to take a colour negative or capture and desaturate
it in an editor. It's like turning down the colour on your TV, or pulling
several spark-plug leads off a Ferrari!

Opinions?

Paul



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Paul Bartram" p.bartram AT OR NEAR mysoul.com.au writes:
Surfing through picture sharing sites like Flickr, PBase and Smugmug, I
can't help notice that a lot of people post what would otherwise be pretty
good photos in Black and White. Why do they do that? Do they think it
automatically make their work 'art'?

If you took all the girls I knew when I was single,
And put them all together for one night,
They wouldn't match my sweet imagination;
Everything looks better in black and white.

--Simon & Garfunkel, "Kodachrome"

Surfing through picture sharing sites like Flickr, PBase and Smugmug, I
can't help notice that a lot of people post what would otherwise be pretty
good photos in Black and White. Why do they do that? Do they think it
automatically make their work 'art'?

I kind of agree with you that a lot of people feel that making a black
and white photo will automatically increase the "artistic" value of
their photo, and it's overused. Certainly, there are times where black
and white does make a shot more artistic, but not always.

Bucky writes:
I kind of agree with you that a lot of people feel that making a black
and white photo will automatically increase the "artistic" value of
their photo, and it's overused. Certainly, there are times where black
and white does make a shot more artistic, but not always.

Photos of people often look better in B&W, I find. Photos of scenery
look better in color.

Also, a B&W print is less obtrusive on the wall of a room. A color
print creates visual clutter when you're not looking directly at it.

One of the great things about black and white is contrast can be widely
adjusted so that an image has more snap. Colour images can not be played
with to the same extent as the colours change.

By the way desaturating a colour image generally leads to a flat contrast
black and white and is a technique little used in generating a black and
white from colour.

Malcolm

"Paul Rubin" wrote in message
...
If you took all the girls I knew when I was single,
And put them all together for one night,
They wouldn't match my sweet imagination;
Everything looks better in black and white.

--Simon & Garfunkel, "Kodachrome"

I just have to comment on this botched lyrics quote. Firstly Garfunkel
wasn't in this song. Secondly that isn't what Paul Simon had wrote.

The real lyrics we

"
If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
my sweet imagination
everything looks worse in black and white

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
"

ie worse in black and white!

Paul Bartram wrote:
Surfing through picture sharing sites like Flickr, PBase and Smugmug, I
can't help notice that a lot of people post what would otherwise be pretty
good photos in Black and White. Why do they do that? Do they think it
automatically make their work 'art'?

Don't know about you, but in 30 odd years of film and digital photography
I've never felt the urge to take a colour negative or capture and desaturate
it in an editor. It's like turning down the colour on your TV, or pulling
several spark-plug leads off a Ferrari!

Opinions?

Paul




I see some great photos in B & W, but I agree with you......

imo

As photographers, do we not try and get across 'a moment in time', or an
item of still life to the viewer. Correct me if I am wrong, but don't
humans see (well the majority of humans) in colour?

For example, I stand on the top of a mountain and see a stunning view
that I want to capture and show to people.... what would be the point of
trying to portray the same image in B&W, I viewd it in colour, thats
possibly one of the elements that made me want to capture the moment.

--
Clive

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take.....
but by the moments that take our breath away.

Clive wrote:
I see some great photos in B & W, but I agree with you......

imo

As photographers, do we not try and get across 'a moment
in time', or an item of still life to the
viewer. Correct me if I am wrong, but don't humans see
(well the majority of humans) in colour?

Ah, but do they dream in color? Do they even think in
color.

A photograph is an abstraction, it is *not* actually a
replica of what we see, nor is it a replacement for
human vision.

It happens that color is one form of abstraction, and B&W
is another. They are quite different. I was wracking
my brain trying to think of an analogy... and it occurred
to me that color photography is like listening to an
full orchestra, while B&W photography is like listening
to a soloist (perhaps with a supporting band though).

We focus our attention differently on the rendition of
music from an orchestra (with a multitude of difference
sources of sound) than the music of a soloist. And in
the same way we focus differently when looking at the
multitude of contrasts in a color photograph than we do
when looking at the contrasts a monochromal image.

I see them as very very different things that are very
very similar. I like them both.

For example, I stand on the top of a mountain and see a
stunning view that I want to capture and show to
people.... what would be the point of trying to portray
the same image in B&W, I viewd it in colour, thats
possibly one of the elements that made me want to
capture the moment.

Errr... have you ever been on top of a mountain, where
you could "see forever"? Except at sunset and sunrise,
the colors become quite diffused, and except on *very*
clear days you'll have a difficult time getting a color
image that knocks your socks off the way a B&W image
would.

However, there *are* people who can and do appreciate an
orchestra far far more than a solo piano player. You
might be one of them. It could be that you just do not
have what everyone else does that allows dealing
successfully with a B&W photo... but it could also be
that you are just far far more in tune with colors than
everyone else. Either way, it is *you*. Do what *you*
like.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

"Paul Bartram" p.bartram AT OR NEAR mysoul.com.au wrote in message
.. .
Surfing through picture sharing sites like Flickr, PBase and Smugmug, I
can't help notice that a lot of people post what would otherwise be pretty
good photos in Black and White. Why do they do that? Do they think it
automatically make their work 'art'?

Don't know about you, but in 30 odd years of film and digital photography
I've never felt the urge to take a colour negative or capture and
desaturate it in an editor. It's like turning down the colour on your TV,
or pulling several spark-plug leads off a Ferrari!

Opinions?


Certainly it can be overdone. But as someone else mentioned, since
photography is art, b&w is one way to express it. A well done b&w can
enhance tones or textures, draw your attention to the subject so as not to
distract with colors, etc. The point is, if it's done right you shouldn't
be thinking "gee, too bad this isn't in color". It should look like it was
meant to be b&w to begin with. BTW, simply desaturating an image is the
worst way to do b&w and will usually result in a dull conversion.

Mark

On 8/31/07 1:34 AM, in article ,
"Paul Bartram" p.bartram AT OR NEAR mysoul.com.au wrote:

Surfing through picture sharing sites like Flickr, PBase and Smugmug, I
can't help notice that a lot of people post what would otherwise be pretty
good photos in Black and White. Why do they do that? Do they think it
automatically make their work 'art'?

Don't know about you, but in 30 odd years of film and digital photography
I've never felt the urge to take a colour negative or capture and desaturate
it in an editor. It's like turning down the colour on your TV, or pulling
several spark-plug leads off a Ferrari!

Opinions?

Paul


Neil, my St. Bernard, prefers me to work in Black and White...