Black and white

What is it about black and white or monochrome as the proper name for it is? I love it, just something that goes back to the past.
A mate of mine produced a video last year and it was all in black and white and it was great.

I am when I get back to better health going to make a video of our retail market, and I am thinking of maybe starting it in black and white and then going colour a few mins later. The monochrome is like a introduction.

I like monochrome photos as well.

The lack of colour information forces the eyes and brain to take more notice of shapes and light intensity, and this can result in very striking images. There is nothing unnatural about this -- it's exactly what happens with night vision (when the colour receptors in the eye stop working). Ansel Adams was a great exponent of B&W photography.

Whilst I would by no means disagree with that view, he didn't have much choice at the time he was working. When colour did arrive it was pretty grim for many years.

John

True. What amazes me is that when he was working in the field, he would take a 6x8 (inch) field camera and a dozen plates with him. That would have to last him all day. It's been some time since I read his book but, iirc, when he took his celebrated Moon and Half Dome picture in Yosemite National Park, he was down to his last plate.

Edited by micksharpe (Fri 20-Mar-15 15:55:37)

In reply to a post by micksharpe:

The lack of colour information forces the eyes and brain to take more notice of shapes and light intensity, and this can result in very striking images. There is nothing unnatural about this -- it's exactly what happens with night vision (when the colour receptors in the eye stop working). Ansel Adams was a great exponent of B&W photography.

Very nice, thanks for that.

As I said the video will start off monochrome and then eventually get to colour.
I want to kind of make it start off looking old and then come up to date. It will only be the fist couple of mins in black and white.

The one thing I must do is plan my video carefully as we got a burnt out shell of two shops that have been boarded up for 4 years now and I do not want that in any shots.

It will not happen until June anyway, so I can go into town, shoot a few piccys with a still camera and plan things.

Something that's been on my mind for a while...my camera has a black and white setting, but I can also use my image editor to "convert to grayscale".

Would there be an advantage to using the B&W setting on the camera over colour and convert to grayscale?

No. You lose a lot of flexibility that way. Always take pictures in colour mode (and preferably raw mode). That way, you can tweak the levels of each colour channel before converting to grey scale. Monochrome images can look a bit flat when taken on digital cameras. The reason is partly because monochrome films tend not to have flat colour response curves and will emphasise different parts of the spectrum. There is plenty of information about monochrome digital photography, for example.

Another advantage of shooting in colour mode is that you can create toned (desaturated) images. Always shoot in colour+raw mode and do your own conversions to monochrome. Never let your camera do it for you.

I'll try to find some more sites. The one that linked to was pretty random.

Edit:

Another reason why monochrome photography (both film and digital) can look so flat is that it is difficult to avoid looking at colours when composing images. You must ignore colour differences and concentrate on tone (brightness), contrast and, more importantly, texture.

The only advantage for shooting in B&W mode that I can think of is that if your camera has a digital display (rather than a view-finder), you will see a monochrome image before you make the exposure. This would certainly be useful for making a test exposure if you have the time.

Edited by micksharpe (Mon 23-Mar-15 00:25:50)

FWIW my camera is a Nikon Coolpix L310 and the editor is Irfanview...I've taken a semi-interest in Old_Git's B&W efforts. I appreciate he might use proper film, and that my own camera isn't particularly expensive...but it's always worth learning the right way etc.

I occasionally pop into his Flickr site for a look and spot (I'm no critic) the odd gem (many are gems, but shinyness is subjective). I wonder if he takes 10,000 for every 'gem' he publishes...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trojanllama/9685601917/

Edited by camieabz (Mon 23-Mar-15 00:43:36)

In reply to a post by camieabz:

I wonder if he takes 10,000 for every 'gem' he publishes...

No hope for me if that's the case. I doubt if I've taken 1,000 pictures in my entire life. I must get 'snappy' with my DSLR.

There's an interesting article here:

In reference to www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/02/13/monochrome-photography-how-to...:

When you’re shooting in black and white, make sure the camera’s set up to shoot raw files. If you use the Monochrome Picture Control, your camera will still display the image in black and white, but it will save a full-colour raw file to your memory card – you get the advantage of shooting and visualising in black and white, but the ability to choose different conversion options on the computer later if you need to.

I had forgotten about Old_Git's stuff. He can spot interesting textures. That's what it's all about. It's a pity that he hasn't posted for two years.

Edited by micksharpe (Mon 23-Mar-15 03:07:04)