Shooting for black and white versus colour: Of concern or not?

[Manfred M]

He also doesn't appear to be a diver.

Wrong picture for that....

[William W]

. . .is that ice that you are sitting upon?

[Manfred M]

. . .is that ice that you are sitting upon?

Yes, I was out ice diving that day; so on top of the usual cold weather dive gear (full dry suit with extra insulation worn underneath) I also wore a climbing harness had a rope on it connecting me back to the support team on the surface (and the hole in the ice).

[John 2]

Another philosophical discussion which I must admit, I have enjoyed reading. Having thought about it, my own approach is centred on the image I want and the decision as to mono or colour is generally based on which medium will produce that best. Is that the same thing as seeing in mono? I'm not sure in that in general, I will "see" in colour with a knowledge of what subsequent PP will achieve. Perhaps a moot point. The discussion on portraiture was interesting. It immediately brought to mind Karsh. Although he did work in colour, 99% of his output was in mono right into the 1960's when colour was becoming more dominant. However, I wonder to what extent commercial pressure informed decisions in the early years. The colour separation process used by periodicals, news papers and the like at that time was difficult in terms of producing quality and relatively expensive because it needed multiple runs. Commissioning editors would almost certainly have preferred Mono where they could get away with it.

[Shadowman]

As opposed to some photographers, I don't normally shoot with a specific monochrome aim. Rather, I will sometimes decide that a color image might do well in B&W or some type of monochrome that includes toning and, will then post process that image in monochrome.

However, in my film days., I was quite into monochrome (I had B&W processing and printing set up in my personal darkroom) and I had a variety of contrast and correction filters that I would frequently use. I loved the red filter for B&W landscapes. The limitation with that technique is that once an image was shot using a filter, it could not be reverted. We in the digital age, have the freedom do do just about anything we want with an image.

About the closest thing to shooting with the limitations of film is when I use my old Canon 60D (note: not the recent 60D) which I had converted to full-time infrared. However, this means that I need to carry an extra full size DSLR on my photo jaunts if I want to capture both "normal" and IR imagery. I really wish that I had a smaller camera modified to full time IR. It would be easy to slip into the pocket of my photo vest to shoot IR when I desired...

I can do a pseudo infrared processing on my color shots but, they don't come across as vibrant as a true infrared image that has been converted to B&W; such as this one...

Nicely presented, were there any particular areas of this composition that required specific treatment? I'm thinking that outcrop in shade must have rendered more darkly than seen here.