I love doing Black & White.but not always easy to decide when.

[Photo Lady]

 

[Photo Lady]

thank you...good info ..very interesting ..

 

[johngpt]

Depending upon which apps one uses for editing, it can be seen quickly if an image has potential for b/w conversion.
For example Lightroom in its Develop module has an option to click upon which converts the image to b/w and then one can quickly use the sliders to see if it has potential.
In Photoshop, one can look at the Channels panel and look at the Red, Green and Blue channels individually. Often that gives a very useful idea whether an image has potential.

As others before have said, prior to shooting or as one is shooting, paying attention to line, shape and contrast can help one decide if scene and subject might have potential for b/w. That said, it can be difficult to know how color will be "seen" by our sensors and looking at RGB channels in Ps or the Develop module in Lr afterward can confirm potential.

.

 

[Photo Lady]

Depending upon which apps one uses for editing, it can be seen quickly if an image has potential for b/w conversion.
For example Lightroom in its Develop module has an option to click upon which converts the image to b/w and then one can quickly use the sliders to see if it has potential.
In Photoshop, one can look at the Channels panel and look at the Red, Green and Blue channels individually. Often that gives a very useful idea whether an image has potential.

As others before have said, prior to shooting or as one is shooting, paying attention to line, shape and contrast can help one decide if scene and subject might have potential for b/w. That said, it can be difficult to know how color will be "seen" by our sensors and looking at RGB channels in Ps or the Develop module in Lr afterward can confirm potential.

.

Thank you John.. i did these today.. i thought the look pretty good for practice

 

[Grandpa Ron]

While all of the above comments are true and indeed necessary for a great competition black and white photos these days. I find the biggest advantage of black and white is simply the absence of color. This causes the viewer to look at the subject of the picture, without being distracted by the color.

When you look at old civil war pictures, or Victorian era photos, are you really distracted by the lack of color or the other techniques we now use judge photos?

Most old photos were not shot to win photographic awards, they were shot to capture a subject; like life in the old west, railroads, the Eiffel Tower, aircraft etc. Again, when we view these, are we really distracted by lack of texture, etc.

Personally, though some black and white scenes just jump out to me, usually I shoot in color then convert to B&W. I do not try to judge which is best, color of B&W, that is somewhat like saying and apple is better than and orange. I just ask does the B&W photo capture the moment. If yes than I can tweak the exposure.

I think the latest submissions by Photo Lady are an excellent example. A great balance between subject and technique.

 

[Photo Lady]

thank you Grandpa Ron.. i am really getting all this advise to sink in..obviously the choices i make make all the difference.. you have helped so much.. i appreciate it

 

[joecrumley2]

It's not necessary to pre-visualize but one can tell right up front when it's going on. Looking through a bunch of color shots with little or no understanding of how the images are made is a pure novice situation. As Eileen said, in her early days, shooting B&W, she had trained herself to see in black and white. Since I shoot only B&W that's the way I see. It's true one can shuffle around and find a good non color photo by a roll of the dice, but it will seldom have the power of good visual integrity..

One of the big disadvantages today are the intense colors rendered by SLR's. It's easy to fall in love with the brilliant color scenes a TLR renders. Even when there's no reason to press the shutter. We easily forget about layout and design, the fundamentals. Without mentally being able to visualize in B&W one is guessing. Then, looking over one's photo's trying to tease out an image isn't correct. That's often the way it's done today.
Joe

 

[Original katomi]

Part of the problem now with b&w vs colour is expections
The world around is designed to capture our eye and like when fabric colours changed when homes moved from gas light to electric colours in our city’s and town have /are changing with the change in lighting. There are few places left that are still lit with furosecent or tungsten lighting, the modern lights are more blue or cooler
Displays take advantage of this and humans as a group are being led to expect to see colour(s) photographers and oddly colour blind people are in the main the ones who really look at is there.
A classic example here in UK is the filter lane. Set of lights for main and set for filter lane. I have seen so many drives make a start because they saw the green and had not always paid attention to which lane it applied to

 

[smoke665]

As several have mentioned, good B&W conversions are highly dependent on the colors, as different colors reflect light differently. Here's a good article Converting a Digital Color Photo into Black and White in particular look at the image examples and click on the tabs to see the effect color filters have on the conversion. Also may I recommend the book The Photographic Eye: Learning to See with a Camera by Michael O'Brien: Used 9780871922830 | eBay it explains in detail many of the successful elements of a good composition.

 

[Photo Lady]

It's not necessary to pre-visualize but one can tell right up front when it's going on. Looking through a bunch of color shots with little or no understanding of how the images are made is a pure novice situation. As Eileen said, in her early days, shooting B&W, she had trained herself to see in black and white. Since I shoot only B&W that's the way I see. It's true one can shuffle around and find a good non color photo by a roll of the dice, but it will seldom have the power of good visual integrity..

One of the big disadvantages today are the intense colors rendered by SLR's. It's easy to fall in love with the brilliant color scenes a TLR renders. Even when there's no reason to press the shutter. We easily forget about layout and design, the fundamentals. Without mentally being able to visualize in B&W one is guessing. Then, looking over one's photo's trying to tease out an image isn't correct. That's often the way it's done today.
Joe

i love your explanation.. very interesting concept.. so many good pointers from all of you...

 

[Photo Lady]

While all of the above comments are true and indeed necessary for a great competition black and white photos these days. I find the biggest advantage of black and white is simply the absence of color. This causes the viewer to look at the subject of the picture, without being distracted by the color.

When you look at old civil war pictures, or Victorian era photos, are you really distracted by the lack of color or the other techniques we now use judge photos?

Most old photos were not shot to win photographic awards, they were shot to capture a subject; like life in the old west, railroads, the Eiffel Tower, aircraft etc. Again, when we view these, are we really distracted by lack of texture, etc.

Personally, though some black and white scenes just jump out to me, usually I shoot in color then convert to B&W. I do not try to judge which is best, color of B&W, that is somewhat like saying and apple is better than and orange. I just ask does the B&W photo capture the moment. If yes than I can tweak the exposure.

I think the latest submissions by Photo Lady are an excellent example. A great balance between subject and technique.

oh i do agree with you.. very good points made... we are so spoiled ..

 

[Photo Lady]

As several have mentioned, good B&W conversions are highly dependent on the colors, as different colors reflect light differently. Here's a good article Converting a Digital Color Photo into Black and White in particular look at the image examples and click on the tabs to see the effect color filters have on the conversion. Also may I recommend the book The Photographic Eye: Learning to See with a Camera by Michael O'Brien: Used 9780871922830 | eBay it explains in detail many of the successful elements of a good composition.

thanks so much.. i will look into these links and the book.. i appreciate your help..all of you have been so interesting in your details

 

[Original katomi]

A couple of my b&w images. These I could see as b&w

 

[Photo Lady]

A couple of my b&w images. These I could see as b&wView attachment 180913View attachment 180914

oh they are gorgeous.......... thank you for sharing