Black and White conversions

[Alison]

My first photography experience was learning to develop and print my own black and white film. For me as a photographer I tend to see my images in black and white vs color. This is true for my profession wedding/portraits as well as photos that I just take for myself. I can't speak for others black and white photographers, but I know that I see the world a little different...not in colors so much as lighting and contrast.

 

[Marctwo]

Perception is a personal thing.

For me, colour is more empathetic and encourages the viewer to feel personally involved.

B&W is more sympathetic which gives the viewer a certain emotional seperation from the subject. This will often work the other way making the viewer feel 'safe' to invest much more emotion in the image than they'd dare for a colour image.

Disturbing pictures of death, abuse, etc. will usually provoke a much stronger emotional response in B&W because in colour they hit home to much and make us throw up the emotional defenses we've spent our whole lives developing.

Color is taking pictures. Black and White is art.

It's quite easy to spot a picture that's been presented with that attitude; It's also quite easy to ignore it.

 

[terri]

I prefer to shoot B&W film, make a real silver gelatin print, and then decide whether or not to add color...using photo oils, toners, chalks....

That's my idea of a conversion. B&W to color.

 

[LWW]

Just b/c it's black and white doesn't make it art.

Not at all/

What I mean is that it's MUCH easier to take a picture full of vivid colors which catch the eye.

It's much more difficult to account for all the different shades of a BW photo when you can't truly "SEE" it until it's developed.

Perhaps put a little deeper is that color involves the senses of the viewer while BW involves the mind and soul of the viewer.

LWW

 

[Luminosity]

I think a lot of people convert to BW because it covers up alot of the photographers flaws that are found in color photography. Converting to BW gets rid of all the color issues and you can play it off as a more cliche artistic approach. Im sure some of the people do it for the novelty but I think most do it because they dont have the skill or want to attempt color correcting before the shoot and or the image produced.

I think digital camera have alot to do with the sudden rise. because so many people own them but dont know much about the techs of photography and BW is a way to make okay photos look more than what they are.

I don't share your sentiment about why a lot of people use b&w, nor do I think people who prefer b&w are attempting to play their photos off in a 'cliched' manner so that they can be perceived as artistic.

What a generalisation to make!

I love b&w images, whether they be mine or others, for many reasons. One of those reasons being that it draws the attention to the mood of the scene ( or person ) instead of being distracted by other elements ie. in this case, color.

I photograph in color ( or keep the image in it's original color format ) only if I want to display the beauty of the play of color in the image ie. a sunset etc.

I'm a huge fan of the film noir look. I like the look of a bright color in a mostly b&w or sepia image. I love the images that are produced using cameras such as holgas; a lot of images are captured with a romantic, haunted, aged look to them that color just cant convey.

I think it was a tad bit presumptious to group 'a lot' of b&w enthusiasts into the category of 'unskilled' , hitchhikers of a 'novelty' , or ppl that are not tech savvy.

 

[Vmann]

I don't share your sentiment about why a lot of people use b&w, nor do I think people who prefer b&w are attempting to play their photos off in a 'cliched' manner so that they can be perceived as artistic.

What a generalisation to make!

I love b&w images, whether they be mine or others, for many reasons. One of those reasons being that it draws the attention to the mood of the scene ( or person ) instead of being distracted by other elements ie. in this case, color.

I photograph in color ( or keep the image in it's original color format ) only if I want to display the beauty of the play of color in the image ie. a sunset etc.

I'm a huge fan of the film noir look. I like the look of a bright color in a mostly b&w or sepia image. I love the images that are produced using cameras such as holgas; a lot of images are captured with a romantic, haunted, aged look to them that color just cant convey.

I think it was a tad bit presumptious to group 'a lot' of b&w enthusiasts into the category of 'unskilled' , hitchhikers of a 'novelty' , or ppl that are not tech savvy.

It is a generelisation to be made. That is what the thread was started over. Asking why they thought so many people where taking BWs. This is just my opionen which I included myself in for being quilty of on a occasion.

And sorry if you feel you where qrouped in this classification. In all reality I think there is on a whole alot of crummy photos and photographers out there these days with the advent of PS and digital cameras both in color and bw shotting crummy photos and trying to pass them off as artistic.

If you read my second statement on this post it explains my feelings towards people interest in the last paragraph. Do what ever makes you happy.

 

[montresor]

I think a lot of people convert to BW because it covers up alot of the photographers flaws that are found in color photography.

Okay, a non-digital guy here, but I found that for a while, after starting my shooting in B&W, I backslid into color because it covered up so many of my flaws in B&W! Fortunately, I got my religion back and am now pretty much all B&W. One of the old-fashioned "gray men!"

 

[alexecho]

A poor colour shot, changed into black and white makes a poor black and white shot -usually.

I think making a black and white shot from a colour negative in the 'darkroom days' was hard, they lack the contrast that makes a B&W shot look good. It was also prohibitively expensive to get B&W film processed in the highstreet, compared to colour. So people taking photos for fun, without a darkroom were really restricted to only shooting colour.

Now Digital lets those people make b&W images, without spending extra money. This has a real novelty factor, which I think has a lot to do with it. These people have always wanted to try B&W and its now it's affordable to them.

Personally when I want a B&W I still shoot film. I can't recreate the 'feel' in digital. With colour I can't tell the diference...

 

[ksmattfish]

In all reality I think there is on a whole alot of crummy photos and photographers out there these days with the advent of PS and digital cameras

This is what "real" photographers said when film was introduced in the early 20th century. It made photography too convenient; anybody could do it.

I hope that we don't ever see the day when ready-made photo system, which guarantees good photographic compostions in advance, go on the market.

-Henri Cartier-Bresson