is black and white over rated?

[bribrius]

pondering this. originally all they had was bw. It bothered them to they extent they would try to color the photos after the fact in many cases. To make them color. Now with the advances we clearly have color now. which back then they would have been thrilled at (considering the extents they went through trying to color them i am guessing). some how we still seem really stuck on making bw photographs though. when it seems many, who shot before color was introduced would have been thrilled to not have to make a bw photo. Are we stuck in the nostalgia aspect? Do we some how think if we make it bw it is now more artful?

 

[limr]

I don't know about anyone else, but it's not about nostalgia for me. I was actually talking about this to Buzz the other day. Both of us in general find ourselves more satisfied with our black and white work than our color. We think it's because we both tend to notice certain kinds of things - shapes, patterns, shadows - and those things often are highlighted more effectively in black and white without the distraction of color. We also think we sometimes pay more attention to composition when we are shooting black and white. With color, if we notice something, we sometimes get too caught up in trying to capture that color object and neglect to notice other details that might detract from the image. With black and white, we know that we can't rely on color and so we don't even consider it - we pay more attention to framing and lighting to make sure the picture comes off well.

I'm not saying everyone does this or even that we do this all the time. Obviously we don't completely forget everything about taking a good picture when shooting color, but somehow I feel like I'm probably lazier about color than I am about black and white.

Sometimes limiting your options forces you to be creative and can push you to be creative in ways you hadn't expected. We all talk about how great it is to have so many choices, but really, humans do better with fewer choices. For some, eliminating the color from a photograph limits what they can do with an image and that might stretch their creativity in a way that using color can't.

 

[bribrius]

I don't know about anyone else, but it's not about nostalgia for me. I was actually talking about this to Buzz the other day. Both of us in general find ourselves more satisfied with our black and white work than our color. We think it's because we both tend to notice certain kinds of things - shapes, patterns, shadows - and those things often are highlighted more effectively in black and white without the distraction of color. We also think we sometimes pay more attention to composition when we are shooting black and white. With color, if we notice something, we sometimes get too caught up in trying to capture that color object and neglect to notice other details that might detract from the image. With black and white, we know that we can't rely on color and so we don't even consider it - we pay more attention to framing and lighting to make sure the picture comes off well.

I'm not saying everyone does this or even that we do this all the time. Obviously we don't completely forget everything about taking a good picture when shooting color, but somehow I feel like I'm probably lazier about color than I am about black and white.

Sometimes limiting your options forces you to be creative and can push you to be creative in ways you hadn't expected. We all talk about how great it is to have so many choices, but really, humans do better with fewer choices. For some, eliminating the color from a photograph limits what they can do with an image and that might stretch their creativity in a way that using color can't.

interesting. i actually think it is easier for me to shoot bw than it is color. As i see in color so it is harder to hide the flaws in color. In color i have more things to concern myself with..

 

[Ysarex]

There are four simple words for the matter, which must be whispered: Color photography is vulgar. When the point of a picture subject is precisely its vulgarity or its color-accident through man's hand, not God's, then only color film can be used validly. -- Walker Evans

Good taste, however, eschews much color; a vulgar taste seeks gratification of strong contrasts, and hence of colors. -- John Towler

Color is just in bad taste. Taste was part of the topic in a recent thread you participated in -- I stayed out of it. I think developing refined taste is a really bad thing that happens to some children when they grow up and stop enjoying life because they're too occupied with enjoying themselves.

The unwashed masses have always preferred color and we artists wouldn't want to have our good taste sullied by being hard to distinguish from their bad taste.

Joe

 

[pixmedic]

B&W is only good for fixing washed out color shots.

 

[Rick58]

I think for a lot of the younger crowd, B&W is the new "cool". Many times it's over done and used when the subject doesn't warrant it.
Probably 95% of what I take is B&W. Outside of birthday party's and family picnics, I have very little interest in color. For me, a well processed B&W is a feeling that is never felt in color.

 

[runnah]

Not overrated, but it has to be applied correctly and in the right circumstances. To me I like it for high textured photos with a lot of contrasting elements. It also works well for flat light scenes.

Much like HDR it's often misused to make a shitty shot "interesting" or "artsy".

 

[Rick50]

I spent most of my film days with black and white. Mostly because I had access to a darkroom but it's a great way to learn about photography. I think better than just learning color.

 

[Gary A.]

There is a place for everything ... and everything has a place.

 

[KenC]

There's really no point either condemning it wholesale or insisting that it's the only true art. It works better for some things, just as color works better for some. If we believe that some posters are using it just as a crutch or to be "trendy" we can address that on an individual basis.

 

[jsecordphoto]

No

 

[Designer]

Do we some how think if we make it bw it is now more artful?

It may be a common misperception among younger photographers, but just making the conversion doesn't automatically make a photograph more artful. There's a lot more to art than merely the mechanics.

 

[The_Traveler]

pondering this. originally all they had was bw. It bothered them to they extent they would try to color the photos after the fact in many cases. To make them color. Now with the advances we clearly have color now. which back then they would have been thrilled at (considering the extents they went through trying to color them i am guessing). some how we still seem really stuck on making bw photographs though. when it seems many, who shot before color was introduced would have been thrilled to not have to make a bw photo. Are we stuck in the nostalgia aspect? Do we some how think if we make it bw it is now more artful?

Your discussions would about what 'they' thought would benefit from a little context, perhaps from a book on the history of photography.

Since the life of photography is relatively short and really starts as the industrial age accelerates, the development of what and why is very convoluted and the work of individual movements is based on what people were able to do themselves in their circumstances, what they wanted to do and what then-current technology allowed them to do.

Photography is divided into two streams, those who use it as a kind of casual communication and those who use it as an artistic end in itself.
The 'casual communication' folks do what is relatively easy and available; the 'photography as an art' use what they want to best express their vision of what they want to say.
So people did B&W, even when color processing was available, because their artistic desires and technical abilities called for the use of B&W.
Within the 'artistic' stream were virtually innumerable 'schools' and their use of color or b&w was determined by belief and artistic choice rather than just by technology available.

A complete, though confusing, book on the history of photography is by Naomi Rosenblum. Inexpensive used versions are always around on abebokks or alibris.

 

[bribrius]

There's really no point either condemning it wholesale or insisting that it's the only true art. It works better for some things, just as color works better for some. If we believe that some posters are using it just as a crutch or to be "trendy" we can address that on an individual basis.

oh geez no. what people post, there use of photography here on this forum is nothing i really need to address as zero to do with me. Also this place, is little about what someone personal photography is about. Just thinking i could or need to address such a thing online for someones photography i would feel out of bounds and giving myself and this forum much more credit than it deserves or should have. At the most, i have critiqued i wonder the use for bw or suggested color. But it is nothing really to "address" as far as what one does with the camera is in the end their own business.. i posted the thread in a generality more to make people consider it themselves, and myself further, more than thinking i have a right to address what someone does with the camera they bought. They could use it to pound nails if they so choose.

 

[KenC]

I didn't mean to imply that you are trying do that. It just seems that when this discussion comes up there are many who make generalizations that don't get us anywhere. If forum members in general are critiquing images the choice of B&W, color, or some hybrid is one of the factors we can address, and that is best done with regard to a particular image, not as a general pronouncement. I recently posted a partially desaturated color image and was told that it would be better in B&W, which was very good advice in that case.