I agree 100%. In filming one talk about cinametic look, and I think the best description is that this too is an abstraction from real life by altering colours, subject isolation with depth of field etc... Your B+W photos demands more thought and are thus stronger. Excellent
A very good point. Like the depth of field -- in real life our eyes take care of focusing automatically. In a photograph, the photographer decided where to focus!
Made my Saturday finding a new video from Ari. Yes, color and black/white surely are different beasts. I have fun playing with all the toys. 35mm, medium format, slr, rangefinder, point and shoot, lomo cameras, light modifiers, film, digital, color, b/w....etc. etc. ad infinitum. LOL Have a great weekend Ari!
I love your "Rants", Ari, keep it up! I also mostly photograph in Black and White, but there are times when the scene demands color. You explained perfectly which choice to make.
Wonderfull Saturday morning tonic! For me, form trumps colour , always. Even photographing complimentary colours, colours become form! Ahhh, philosophy!
Just had a roll of Phoenix 120 delivered, and will try it in my Rolleiflex 3.5F once the leaves really start turning here in North Carolina. That’s assuming the world still exists next week! 😎 Thanks Ari!
True: Colours are often distracting. Autumn colours are not. I love to visit museums to get inspiration from their pictures. Tip: Take black and white photographs of them, and sometimes you will be positively surprised!
I spent a couple of years in TV broadcast and that experience helped me to visualize what was called the luminance (B&W) and chroma (R-G-B) channels as distinctly separate sources of video. Yours is a much more approachable explanation and confirms some of that learning. It occurs to me that there is very much some sort of left-brain / right-brain stuff here. The classic debate/discussion between the artist and the scientist. It's evident in our respective approach to photography (yours as artist - mine as more of a journalist) I speculate it also is evident in our approach to piano playing. Yours is a natural ability to compose and play ad hoc whereas mine was always rooted in reading and playing the compositions of others. Originating from two very different mindsets and abilities our respective journeys converge on some central truths and shared passions. After shooting 35mm for decades, one huge bonus of the leap into MF was the ability to switch backs. Thank you for sharing, I am consistently inspired.
Thanks Ari, sharing this with my son. He prefers colour, I prefer Black and White. I shot several Kentmere shots to capture Autumn light on my 6x9 zeiss ikon this week. Your tips would have helped me. Thanks for your videos as always.
First of all, Cookie’s yawn at the beginning was awesome! I would try to get that in a picture! Haha I loved how you explained how the differences in composition between color and black and white. My mind still sees it in color and when I want to shoot black and white I have a difficult time trying to envision it in black and white. Sometimes my pictures look good and others they don’t as I could not envision the result before I took the picture. Do you have any tips to help envision in black and white? Thanks for an awesome video!!
Thanks !! I'm not sure if I'm that good at envisioning things in b& w. It's more about "reasoning". I know red on green is meaningless in black and white while in color it's huge :-)
Color and black and white will give very different moods to fall foliage. Black and white can give a melancholy look whereas color will be uplifting. Of course, there are a lot of other variables like the light and amount of leaves that have fallen, etc.
Thanks Ari! Shooting color all the time, many people don't see the forms that make compositions. As you said, we get distracted by pretty colors. Hmm, it's like the B&W elements of a photo form the "bones" of a photo.
Hi Ari and good morning/evening as your case may be. Do you remember the Orton effect? Have you ever superimposed a color photo over a black and white one? A flesh over bones kind of a thing. Great content once again! Have as great a week as you can stand!! -a random mike
A bit off topic, but contrast filters can allow the composition to be similar to color in many situations and still separate the subject or sky on the negative.
@@ShootOnFilm I would be curious to see the dog in the woods with a green filter (lots of yellow but still might be interesting) and your trees in winter with red. The wheelbarrows leave as color. I agree B&W forces the mind to fill in the missing information. A murder scene in a movie is so much more interesting without all the color adding reality (distraction).
Yeah, I bet he was sleeping before I called him. I was told by a vet that if the dog stretches like that in front of you, it means 100% trust. Dunno :-) I like this: The B&W picture of the row of trees says trees, the color picture says autumn.
I find I am tempted by colors but if I resist that temptation I prefer my black and white images. I often need to return to those photos later to realize that.
I shoot mostly B&W and so I “see” images in that mode. It always takes me a while to adjust my view when I load colour film. I have to say that my colour work is not as successful - to my eye anyway. Thanks Ari.
No disagreement at all to what you say/show! But you make in my mind a classic shortcut like the very most. It is not "Color vs. BW", it is "Color vs. 'Some' Color vs. BW". And "Color" and "BW" are also not well defined either. Think of all the different films/papers/processing on which generations of analog photographer made a big deal around until the market shrunk. So did I a bit ... aside of costs ;-) E.g.: Kodachrome's extreme red was unbeaten by anything else from Kodak or Fuji or ... Was it it real or good in neutral sense did often not matter - It looked simply often good. "Some color" could be achieved by color of what is pictured (as we all know), or by material/processing like: infrared/false color material/sensor, colorization/toning of BW/color pictures, filtering (subtracting/adding) certain colors etc. In principle can most of "Color" or "Some Color" tuning be achieved pure analog, but to be honest, digital makes most of those processing much much more available, easier, faster and cheaper. E.g.: - Who can afford dozens and dozens of filters starting from color temperature and going up to band filters for passing or blocking of certain colors only. - How many people do processing like color gum printing, where you select the colors how you like as if you would tell Kodak/Fuji/.. which colors they should put into their films. Like: Which yellow flavor and how much ?
Beautiful shots of Cookie. I LOOOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE Cookie!❤️
So thoughtful and thought-provoking. I look forward to these every week, the “philosophical” ones especially! Thank you Ari!
Thanks for watching! Very happy to hear!
Always enjoy your philosophical 'rants'. Not only entertaining but thought-provoking and instructional. Thanks always.
Thanks for watching!
Lovely! I love color but my BW are liked way MORE! Color draws our eyes! BW goes into our minds.. I shoot both at this tme,Fall. Love video!
Thanks thanks! Yeah, BW here, too 🙂
I agree 100%. In filming one talk about cinametic look, and I think the best description is that this too is an abstraction from real life by altering colours, subject isolation with depth of field etc... Your B+W photos demands more thought and are thus stronger. Excellent
A very good point. Like the depth of field -- in real life our eyes take care of focusing automatically. In a photograph, the photographer decided where to focus!
Made my Saturday finding a new video from Ari. Yes, color and black/white surely are different beasts. I have fun playing with all the toys. 35mm, medium format, slr, rangefinder, point and shoot, lomo cameras, light modifiers, film, digital, color, b/w....etc. etc. ad infinitum. LOL Have a great weekend Ari!
You, too! Thanks for watching!
Very interesting discussion of using color or B&W.
Thanks for watching!
I love rants! Raves, not so much.
Keep 'em comming!
Thanks thanks!!!
I love your "Rants", Ari, keep it up! I also mostly photograph in Black and White, but there are times when the scene demands color. You explained perfectly which choice to make.
Thanks thanks. As the song says:
To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
Wonderfull Saturday morning tonic! For me, form trumps colour , always. Even photographing complimentary colours, colours become form! Ahhh, philosophy!
Thanks! I totally agree with you!
Just had a roll of Phoenix 120 delivered, and will try it in my Rolleiflex 3.5F once the leaves really start turning here in North Carolina. That’s assuming the world still exists next week! 😎 Thanks Ari!
Let's enjoy it to the fullest as long as it lasts. Very little we can do about it!
True: Colours are often distracting. Autumn colours are not. I love to visit museums to get inspiration from their pictures. Tip: Take black and white photographs of them, and sometimes you will be positively surprised!
That's a good idea!
Good video. Love the images. I really liked the Lomo color shots.
It's an amazingly vivid film.
I spent a couple of years in TV broadcast and that experience helped me to visualize what was called the luminance (B&W) and chroma (R-G-B) channels as distinctly separate sources of video. Yours is a much more approachable explanation and confirms some of that learning. It occurs to me that there is very much some sort of left-brain / right-brain stuff here. The classic debate/discussion between the artist and the scientist. It's evident in our respective approach to photography (yours as artist - mine as more of a journalist) I speculate it also is evident in our approach to piano playing. Yours is a natural ability to compose and play ad hoc whereas mine was always rooted in reading and playing the compositions of others. Originating from two very different mindsets and abilities our respective journeys converge on some central truths and shared passions. After shooting 35mm for decades, one huge bonus of the leap into MF was the ability to switch backs. Thank you for sharing, I am consistently inspired.
Fascinating. I think you've got a lot of truth in your thinking. Interesting comparisons!
Thanks Ari, sharing this with my son. He prefers colour, I prefer Black and White. I shot several Kentmere shots to capture Autumn light on my 6x9 zeiss ikon this week. Your tips would have helped me. Thanks for your videos as always.
Thanks thanks! Say hi to your son!!! :-)
EXCELLENT!
Thanks for watching!
First of all, Cookie’s yawn at the beginning was awesome! I would try to get that in a picture! Haha I loved how you explained how the differences in composition between color and black and white. My mind still sees it in color and when I want to shoot black and white I have a difficult time trying to envision it in black and white. Sometimes my pictures look good and others they don’t as I could not envision the result before I took the picture. Do you have any tips to help envision in black and white? Thanks for an awesome video!!
Thanks !! I'm not sure if I'm that good at envisioning things in b& w. It's more about "reasoning". I know red on green is meaningless in black and white while in color it's huge :-)
Color and black and white will give very different moods to fall foliage. Black and white can give a melancholy look whereas color will be uplifting. Of course, there are a lot of other variables like the light and amount of leaves that have fallen, etc.
True. Very different vibe
Thanks Ari! Shooting color all the time, many people don't see the forms that make compositions. As you said, we get distracted by pretty colors. Hmm, it's like the B&W elements of a photo form the "bones" of a photo.
Yeah, forms are essential for me!!
Hi Ari and good morning/evening as your case may be. Do you remember the Orton effect? Have you ever superimposed a color photo over a black and white one? A flesh over bones kind of a thing. Great content once again! Have as great a week as you can stand!! -a random mike
I know what it is -- a bit like HDR. But I haven't tried it myself.
l like using Lomo 800 with my Holga thanks for sharing Ari:)
That is a marvelous combination!
A bit off topic, but contrast filters can allow the composition to be similar to color in many situations and still separate the subject or sky on the negative.
That is an interesting thought. Do you mean like a red filter?
@@ShootOnFilm I would be curious to see the dog in the woods with a green filter (lots of yellow but still might be interesting) and your trees in winter with red. The wheelbarrows leave as color. I agree B&W forces the mind to fill in the missing information. A murder scene in a movie is so much more interesting without all the color adding reality (distraction).
My dog stretches just like yours does before our walks.
The B&W picture of the row of trees says trees, the color picture says autumn.
Yeah, I bet he was sleeping before I called him. I was told by a vet that if the dog stretches like that in front of you, it means 100% trust. Dunno :-) I like this: The B&W picture of the row of trees says trees, the color picture says autumn.
This time of year offers opportunity for using color filters with black and white film to control tonal densities. 😎
That is true. Or, say, orthocomatic film.
Nice upbeat fall song. My guitar keeps playing Autumn Leaves two months later. Must be our elections coming up.
Two weeks!
I think there might be a way to use color film to create abstract pictures. Do you?
But of course :-)
I find I am tempted by colors but if I resist that temptation I prefer my black and white images. I often need to return to those photos later to realize that.
I know exactly what you mean. It's like having too much sugar in your cake. it tastes good for the first bite but then it starts to feel too much :-)
I shoot mostly B&W and so I “see” images in that mode. It always takes me a while to adjust my view when I load colour film. I have to say that my colour work is not as successful - to my eye anyway. Thanks Ari.
I'm like you 100%
🤔
🙂
No disagreement at all to what you say/show! But you make in my mind a classic shortcut like the very most. It is not "Color vs. BW", it is "Color vs. 'Some' Color vs. BW".
And "Color" and "BW" are also not well defined either. Think of all the different films/papers/processing on which generations of analog photographer made a big deal around until the market shrunk. So did I a bit ... aside of costs ;-)
E.g.: Kodachrome's extreme red was unbeaten by anything else from Kodak or Fuji or ... Was it it real or good in neutral sense did often not matter - It looked simply often good.
"Some color" could be achieved by color of what is pictured (as we all know), or by material/processing like:
infrared/false color material/sensor,
colorization/toning of BW/color pictures,
filtering (subtracting/adding) certain colors
etc.
In principle can most of "Color" or "Some Color" tuning be achieved pure analog, but to be honest, digital makes most of those processing much much more available, easier, faster and cheaper.
E.g.:
- Who can afford dozens and dozens of filters starting from color temperature and going up to band filters for passing or blocking of certain colors only.
- How many people do processing like color gum printing, where you select the colors how you like as if you would tell Kodak/Fuji/.. which colors they should put into their films. Like: Which yellow flavor and how much ?
Good points. A lot of toys and things to play with!