[LRflex] Re: Power of B&W?
- From: LEICAFLEX <leicaflex@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 14:19:56 -0700
Ted and Bob, I have a great love for B&W...or should I say
"monochrome" to cover sepia and toned images, and read both your
threads with enthusiasm! The anecdotal advice from Ted is priceless
and ageless ~ I think most of today's digital snapshooters sadly tend
to forget these elements of being a photographer. What I am talking
about is the 'heart connection' with your subject.
For that matter, does B&W tend to convey more of the *** feeling ***
you had about the subject/scene, as opposed to color being just an
accurate documentary of the scene? Or can color be used to evoke even
stronger emotions, like fresh blood of injured teenagers in a drunken
driving accident? I think it depends a great deal on the actual
subject matter. If we are shooting Canadian geese and other birds, or
macros of butterflies or flowers, why even think B&W? The good thing
about the digital age is that one can 'cross process' post
facto.....shoot either film or digital in color then desaturate in
Photoshop, and play with the monochrome tonalities to your heart's
content.
When I was in my late teens / early spent 20's, I spent 2 years as a
photojournalist shooting mostly documentary, sports and reportage B&W
for the inside fotos of a magazine, and Ektachromes for the front
cover. I remember how I used to shift gears to think differently when
moving from one medium to the other. One had to not only consider the
use of tonalities versus color harmony and contrasts, but also realize
that slide film had little latitude while the B&W film was a lot more
forgiving afterwards in the darkroom. Speaking of which, I would take
the scent of women's perfume over acetic acid (stop bath) anyday
Philippe....LOL!
Well, back to B&W......How many of us actually have time to attempt
the classic Ansel Adams-style landscapes, and regularly apply rigorous
'zone system' techniques that one can spend years trying to master
during photography and in the darkroom (or using curves and histogram
equalization, etc. on Photoshop)? Most of the time these days, I use
a C-41 chemistry chromogenic film when I know for sure that the goal
is a B&W image. However, I have enjoyed changing the look of an
original color image by removing all color saturation and rendering it
either a B&W or monochrome look. Somewhere online, some one teaches
how to create a duotone look in Photoshop. At any rate, here are some
of my Leica B&W's of people, and would be glad to hear the opinions
from this thread.
Here are 2 spontaneous/candid available light shots taken in '05
during a Tibetan Buddhist ceremony in Menlo Park, CA., with a
collapsible Summicron 50/2 mounted on a Leica M3 DS. Film was Ilford
XP-2. (You may have to copy and paste these links into your browser
window):
http://gallery.leica-users.org/ThirdEye/Blessings01Archive
http://gallery.leica-users.org/ThirdEye/FH000005archive
This next one was scanned from a slide then 'monochromed' in Photoshop:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/Scenes-from-Beijing-and-Shanghai/Forward_Kick
In contrast, I decided to leave this one in color due to the nice
blue-on-foliage-green color contrasts which I think add mood (same
park as prior image):
http://stmaarten.globat.com/~afirkin.com/FinalGallery/source/2005fomn0757.htm
Finally, this was a real B&W:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/Scenes-from-Beijing-and-Shanghai/Good_Wine_Conversation_Web
Comments, critiques, debates, opinions, war stories, history
lessons....all welcome ;-)
I think that B&W has the power to force us to focus on the Essential
Symbolism of a visual image, whereas color tends to add a qualitative
dimension that can potentially beautify the image as a whole, or
augment its meaning or symbolism.
B&W prints have an unequaled beauty in their own right, and given the
same subject matter, it is much more difficult to create a fantastic
B&W photo than a color one, IMHO.
However, in the time that we ponder over B&W or color, film or
digital, 35mm or 120, don't forget to just take the damn photo before
the moment gets away!
Ted, it is great to have you here on the thread! - Thanks for sharing
your experiences. To me the greatest challenge in journalistic
photography is capturing the elements of the human condition and
focussing on something in the content/composition that forces the
viewer to question, inquire, compel into action, etc.!
~ Eric Chan
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