Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Tina, Thanks, and I agree with you and everyone else who has commented on my B&W / Color post. Each end every photographer has a different vision, different goals, simply... photography is different for each of us. I'm only interested in B&W *IF* it has all of the ingredients of a "WOW!!! look at that" photograph. And I have found that to do this, requires an enormous amount of work, and sometimes just plain does not work. No matter how much you try. I have a much easier time with color. Velvia, polarizer, natures colors, pastels, fall, dry summer, CA coast, all this works with (for me) much less effort. I have a 20x24 of a bunch of fall leaves. The leaves are red, red/yellow, red/brown, and yellow and they were laying on the ground. I shot straight down on them. The lighting is dead flat. I took it just before sunrise. There is a little dew on some of the leaves. Everybody that looks at this photograph gasps WOW!!!, that's gorgeous. The 20x24 is a straight print of the Velvia transparency. No mask. Straight print. This would not have even begun to work in B&W. A total waste of time and effort. One would have had to expand the negative to put the brighter yellow at white, and the darker brown at black. And do this without eliminating all of the mid tones. The litho look would not work. But again, what everyone says is absolutely true, for each of you. There are different kinds of B&W photographs and different kinds of color photographs. And different kinds of photographers. Which is also why some like R, some like M, some like SM, some like Summaron, some like Summicron, and some like APO & ASPH. Some like Velvia, some like Astia, some like Kodachrome. Some like Tri-X, some like T400CN, some like T-Max. I personally like Velvia, Adox KB14, and Perutz Perpantic. Aaah for the good old days... What you do Tina, and what Ted does, would be extremely difficult for me to do. Different strokes for different folks. Jim At 07:57 AM 10/21/98 -0400, Tina wrote: > >Hi, Jim - > >I enjoyed reading about your background. Brooks Institute really has the >right ideas for teaching photography! I agree that black and white is more >difficult to work with than color but that doesn't necessarily mean that >more color photographs work than B&W. I carry two cameras (at least!) one >with color and one with black and white and so I have a lot of very similar >shots in each. I put together a slide show to illustrate the difference >for a photography class I was teaching. Since then I have presented the >slide show to many more groups, always asking them to vote on whether they >prefer the black and white or color. They always overwhelmingly prefer the >black and white. I know my own prejudices come in here because I prefer >the black and white, too, and so I probably work harder for those photos. >Another factor is that all of my photographs are of people. People >photographs, to me, are just more effective in black and white. I can see >that landscapes might work more often in color. This is an interesting >discussion. Thanks! > >Leically, > >Tina >At 10:03 PM 10/20/98 -0700, Jim wrote: > >>Take two cameras, one with color, the other with B&W. Take the exact same >>photographs with both. Print both color and B&W prints (8x10 or better). >>Typically, more color photographs work than B&W, simply because of the >>color. After taking the photograph, most of the color work is done. The B&W >>work has just begun. >> >>Jim >> http://www.photoaccess.com Jim Brick, ASMP, BIAA Photo Access (650) 470-1132 Visual Impressions Publishing Visual Impressions Photography (408) 296-1629