Passing Place

[Donald]

Continuing with my efforts to make half-decent images that are not square and B & W (as referred to here), this is my next offering.

My success rate thus far, based on feedback provided, has not been high. But that should just make us all the more determined .

As always your constructive and critical analysis is welcomed.

[JBW]

Donald, just a thought. Traditional wisdom has it that to get the best black and white shot you first create the best full colour shot and then convert.

What would happen if you took your best square shot in B&W and then cropped to rectangular and converted to colour?

[Round Tuit]

Hi Donald,

When I look at this photo, I see a photo that was composed for B & W but rendered in colour. The lines, texture, shapes and tonalities could work well in a B & W photos but they don't in the colour version.
I think that our brain expects more realism in colour and sees objects rather than shapes and tones. In this case, I would say that the colour hinders rather then enhance the composition. The objects in the photo are not particularly interesting by themselves and therefore the photo seems to lacks a focal point.

Just thinking out loud. Hope this helps.

André

[Manfred M]

Donald - +1 to Andre's comments. I find that certain scenes work well in colour while others work well in B&W. I also find that an image that works well in one, usually does not work well in the other mode. I find I approach shooting the two completely differently, I tend to make the B&W versus colour call at the time I frame the image.

B&W images are all about the tonal values and contrast in the scene.

Colour images are really about the colours in the scene.

[Manfred M]

Traditional wisdom has it that to get the best black and white shot you first create the best full colour shot and then convert.

I've read one author who recommends that but I would say most do not and in fact I would suggest that is counterproductive to go in that direction.


1. White balance / colour temperatures are not significant considerations in B&W work.

2. In the B&W film days, filters were used to enhance certain effects. Yellow and red filters would enhance the sky, magenta filters would enhance skin tones. This can be done digitally as well, but you'd never get there using colour as the images would look terrible. Best to do this using the channel adjustments in one of the B&W conversion tools in the PP software.

3. B&W is about tonality and contrast and colour is all about the colours, so different approaches from shooting to PP apply.

[billtils]

Donald, my immediate feelings on looking at the image are in line with those expressed by Andre - I can see a very nice mono there but it's a bit lifeless as a colour image.

[Mike Buckley]

I've seen all images several times in this set that are neither monochrome nor square and I think I finally figured out why they don't get my juices flowing: their style is so similar to the style I'm used to seeing in monochrome yet they are being presented in color for reasons which I don't understand. The compositions are fine and fit the non-square look fine, but that attribute doesn't make up for the other characteristic.

Though on the one hand I applaud your desire to stretch yourself to comfortably make photos beyond the realm of monochrome and square formats, on the other hand I don't think that goal on its own should be important to achieve, especially for someone such as yourself who has a form of color blindness. Yet if the process is enjoyable to you, there's certainly nothing wrong with trying to achieve the goal.

Speaking of that, are you still participating in the formal photography course? I ask because I stopped going to your blog related to the course when it seemed that it was no longer being updated.

[Donald]

Speaking of that, are you still participating in the formal photography course? I ask because I stopped going to your blog related to the course when it seemed that it was no longer being updated.

I should have advised blog followers. I have suspended my participation in the course, just because of so many other life events going on. When I embarked on the course, I saw my immediate and medium-term future following a particular path and that would have lent itself ideally to doing the course.

As it is and very happily for me, life has taken a different turn and not one I expected at all. Things are still to be gone through in respect of that and some final decisions made. But that turn of direction meant that there was an awful lot going on that crowded out the time that the course deserves. So, I've put it on hold at the moment.

[Donald]

Thank you all for the comments. Very informative and educational.

Maybe I need to start training myself to 'see' in colour .... or maybe I stick to being good at what I do well. But it's always fun to push the boat out and go new places photographically. Otherwise it would get boring.

[Round Tuit]

Thank you all for the comments. Very informative and educational.

I would also like to thank you. The "failed" images that you posted helped me more than all the books that I have read so far to finally understand the different vision and thinking required to create B & W versus coloured images.

[Wavelength]

This image is all about the hazy background and the board; only if you posted a B&W image, one can stop imagining which would work better

[Donald]

I would also like to thank you. The "failed" images that you posted helped me more than all the books that I have read so far to finally understand the different vision and thinking required to create B & W versus coloured images.

In which case, what I've done has been successful.

[bje07]

Curiously at f/8 I find your DoF short. The pole is in focus but even the grass seems blurry.
IMO, your picture lacks of color, due to haze (or absence of sun, although the water seems very bright),
the format is OK for me for such landscape.
Keep on going

[billtils]

I should have advised blog followers. I have suspended my participation in the course, just because of so many other life events going on. When I embarked on the course, I saw my immediate and medium-term future following a particular path and that would have lent itself ideally to doing the course.
So, I've put it on hold at the moment.

Thanks for the update Donald - I have been looking in from time to time and noted that nothing was happening there, which I took to be an indication that things were happening elsewhere.