There's something "magic" about b&w photography - which never get's old. It's about the tonality, the -rendition of tones, shapes, lines, spaces...etc....about the essence, of a photograph. Our eyes & mind especially is not being distracted by colors whileas watching a scenery into b&w.
I love you videos Thorsten! It’s nice to se photographers who don’t care about sharpness or the name of the tool and instead focus on why it works for them and then teach us how to better create. Cheers!
EXTRA FILTER INFO: The YELLOW filter is the first needed colour filter when exposing a B&W film. The panchromatic B&W film sees the blue sky as a very light gray. Almost like the same gray when a photo is made of the blond hairs of a person, the steam clouds of a locomotive, the white sails of a vessel and the white clouds in the sky. The yellow filter makes the blue sky darker; so the blond hairs, the white sails and clouds get better visible. The YEllOW filter makes the color yellow brighter (or "invisible"). This filter can block the yellow stains in an old photograp or a newspaper, when making a reproduction of it on a B&W film (( or digital camera). The RED and ORANGE filters must be used when finding dark stains on an old photo and brown stains in a printed text. The ORANGE and RED filters make less visible the reckles, veins and facial stains. A red coloured London buss will be much brighter by using a red filter. When shooting with a red filter on a panchromatic film, the photo will look like it was made at night by moonight. The BLUE filter makes the red lips and red hair much darker. Also more visible the reckles, the facial stains and bruisings of the body and stains on old phootos. A GREEN filter makes the green leaves brighter and a red London bus darker. The INFRA RED filter is needed to block all the visible light, when exposing an infra red film by night or day. The POLARISING filter blocks reflexions on all surfaces, but not the ones on a metal surface. The filter makes it possible to take away the reflexion on the glass of a window, All filters have a FILTERFACTOR; because of the density of the colored filters a l onger exposure time or a wider aperture.is needed Not all color filters can be used on ORTHO films and NON SENSIBILISED films.
Thorsten, several years ago I watched a video of yours for the first time. In that video you said something to the effect of that if you don't want to get hooked on Leica, don't watch this video. I watched. I bought an M6 and a 50mm Summicron, then I bought an M262, love them both, and now thinking of a Q2. I have followed you on You Tube ever since that first video.
Thanks. Since most of us see in color most of the time then black and white is a distortion of what we see, which allows to interpret reality in a different way, that we cannot do with colour images, allowing the photographer to add something to the picture
Yes, that is one theory and perception. for sure B&W is a refreshing different look. Try to find black and white paintings. Not many do them, but they stand out.
all images look very good and very professional. What puzzles me: all of the images after the old one of your mom look "new", you can tell immediately that the image of the mom and those of the daughter, the make-up girl, the runner, the musician on the other side are decades apart. I still can't tell why is that, maybe you have an answer? Are the newer images kind of "too clear" or "too sharp"? Or what is it that makes old pictures look different, almost always? Different paper? more yellowish (flash-)lights? What would it take to recreate the old image as similar as possible?
Thank you for sharing this, it's great insight for someone like me who's just getting into this. For the image 'Running in the opera', how did you focus using the M10P? Was it a case of pre-focusing on the right spot and waiting for her to reach that spot? Or are you manually turning the focus to follow her?
As Leica shooter and an urge for B/W I loved this video a lot and thanks for sharing. I love that picture of your mother, beside the photography part, what a beautiful woman with a nice open face. Now allow me to make a point on modified Color Sensors cameras where the Color Filter is removed because you DON'T get the same result as a factory made B/W camera. Allow me to explain: When the light hits the color filter where RGB is filtered per color before it hits the "photo diodes" there is a DIFFERENT PER COLOR attenuation due to the filter. So the exposure of the light hitting the diodes is different per color. Now after the sensor this will be corrected so the exposure levels are equal again (by software - firmware). Now removing the color filter the exposure of light on the "photo diodes" will be ALL equal but after the sensor the attention per color is STILL THERE so it will give a different output cause one CAN NOT ALTER THE FIRMWARE to take away that per color amplification. Therefor it is NOT quite the same as a dedicated B/W camera. Anyways, great video, love your channel
There's a few point the video doesn't deal with. One is the simplicity that a monochrome sensor gives: that you can't alter the colors with kelvin or color channel changes. It's just light. The freedom of the monochrome sensor is that you don't have to deal with "what if?" I do this or that, because the data is not there to manipulate. So one can go two ways on convincing oneself that "this is the right way": 1) Get a monochrome camera and don't care about colors and other possibilities. It is what it is, and it works really well. Or: 2) Get a color sensor, edit to black and white and be convinced that the b&w output one get is just as good as if it was a real monochrome sensor (which is true in the sense that nobody can know, and nobody can really tell the difference from looking at the picture).
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard I totally agree on removing the color filter to get a monochrome camera, and e.g. the micro-contrast will be better. My point is that it is not 100% equal to a factory based monochrome cause not every photocell will give the same rate of exposure. Looking at a B/W image of an altered color sensor it will probably not be noticed. One should change a Q color sensor to monochrome (to keep it a bit affordable hehehe) and compare the shots to a one taken with a monochrome Q. I hope you get my point. In addition to that I also put some time in decompiling firmware but I stopped that after a while cause it was very hard (although in a forum, we made some progress)
It surprises me that after I downloaded the free presets I cannot find any instructions on how to install them coming from someone who gives workshops.
I have several of Cartier-Bresson’s books, and there are very few contrasty photos in them. They’re mostly low contrast, gray tones. He said in an interview that he preferred shooting on overcast days because it had low contrast. He hated photographic “effects”.
This talk on B&W or Colour would be much more interesting by showing some SLR 6 x 6 cm camera. Hasselblad SWC/M, Hasselblad 500 C/M, Hasselblad 500 EL/M plus some of the backs: A12, A24, A70, A250, A16, A16s, Pano35,Pola and Sheet film.
Until i grabbed a Leica i never enjoyed shooting BW as other camera brands didnt give those juicy blacks almost film like look. Other brands make it look synthetic, thin with no real depth. Thank GOD for Leica ;))
Very interesting take on B&W photography, entertaining to watch! On a different note: I have ordered one of your ventilated shades but I need some support. Where or how can I get help? Thank you!
Thak you for the kind words. Mail to am@overgaard.dk for questions on shades, they are all in stock again after a long time of the border having been closed to the factory.
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard Takk Thorsten! Jeg har sendt en mail til epostadressen fordi jeg ikke tror at min ordre har blitt opprettet på tross av betalingen.
Thank you. I got the HCB from Peter Fetterman Gallery in LA, he sent out a mail and I was the first one to respond, so when I went there, he had a waiting list of 17 others thad said they wanted it if I didn't take it. The Helmut Newton I got via eBay, one of 10 of that signed edition. Buying signed prints is a good drill in selling signed prints; what I mean is that being a collector gives a good insight into selling to collectors, which you will miss if you don't buy but only sell art.
Firstly, thank you for sharing, and the video is very meaningful and useful for me, for my photography! I love b&w photography. You showed the details , they are very important for me!
Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed the analysis of your mother's image. What was her age at the time of the photo? How young was she when you were born? Is she still alive?
Hey Thorsten! Thank you for providing some understanding about the tones of black and white. I was curious what your thoughts are on the M10-P vs the M10 Monochrome. My work for the longest has been a mix of color and black and white. Lately, I've been more intrigued by high contrast black and white photography. One of the reasons why I'm leaning towards the Monochrome is because of the simplicity of the rendering from camera to capture one. Also simplifying the shooting process by only focusing on the shot versus the balance of color. What do you think? Be versatile with the M10-P or be specific with the Monochrome?
I have the EVF viewer set to black and white no matter if I photograph in color or black and white. In the newer Leica cameras, you can set the JPG to black and white but only shoot in color; an the EVF will show the JPG preview setting even you never take or save any of the JPGs. Neat detail.
Mail to am@overgaard.dk - Unfortunately the system is set up so you get a PayPal reciept, and then no information till you get a mail with the tracking number. We don't have a order tracking system.
@@DanielNovello No, don't bother with that. They all ship with FedEx complimentary now (due to closure of post offices and such ... it's a mess, dont get me started, but getting back to normal)
I rarely shoot in black and white, to be honest I don’t care for it-I trained as a painter and love color, black and white (and shades of grey) seems flat to me, that being said I enjoyed your video Thorsten it was informative and interesting. Thank you. Cheers!
quite basically I find BW photography represents a depiction of the more emotional side of people, objects -where color work is a more objectified, - with a “thing” based bias .. there are exceptions to this guideline however -take, for example the emotional color work of a Saul Leiter .
Dr.Thorsten. You are sharing fundamental knowledge and it is very interesting to me, but without subtitles, the content of your channel has become inaccessible to understanding. I Have to unsubscribe from your mailings in order not to get upset once again. With all due respect to your creativity.
Thank you Andrey. UA-cam adds subtitles automatically, but they are not that good. Some of the videos have subtitles added by me a little time after they are released; this one too has subtitles now. You can see that small CC symbol under the videos that have subtitles added by me.
There's something "magic" about b&w photography - which never get's old. It's about the tonality, the -rendition of tones, shapes, lines, spaces...etc....about the essence, of a photograph. Our eyes & mind especially is not being distracted by colors whileas watching a scenery into b&w.
I enjoy your thoroughness and sincerity. You’re are fantastic trustworthy reference with amazing knowledge and expertise. Thanks once again.
Thank you Thorsten for inspiring us! Much appreciated.
I love you videos Thorsten! It’s nice to se photographers who don’t care about sharpness or the name of the tool and instead focus on why it works for them and then teach us how to better create. Cheers!
EXTRA FILTER INFO:
The YELLOW filter is the first needed colour filter when exposing a B&W film.
The panchromatic B&W film sees the blue sky as a very light gray. Almost like
the same gray when a photo is made of the blond hairs of a person, the steam
clouds of a locomotive, the white sails of a vessel and the white clouds in the sky.
The yellow filter makes the blue sky darker; so the blond hairs, the white sails
and clouds get better visible.
The YEllOW filter makes the color yellow brighter (or "invisible"). This filter can
block the yellow stains in an old photograp or a newspaper, when making a
reproduction of it on a B&W film (( or digital camera).
The RED and ORANGE filters must be used when finding dark stains on an old
photo and brown stains in a printed text.
The ORANGE and RED filters make less visible the reckles, veins and facial stains.
A red coloured London buss will be much brighter by using a red filter.
When shooting with a red filter on a panchromatic film, the photo will
look like it was made at night by moonight.
The BLUE filter makes the red lips and red hair much darker. Also more visible
the reckles, the facial stains and bruisings of the body and stains on old phootos.
A GREEN filter makes the green leaves brighter and a red London bus darker.
The INFRA RED filter is needed to block all the visible light, when exposing an
infra red film by night or day.
The POLARISING filter blocks reflexions on all surfaces, but not the ones on
a metal surface. The filter makes it possible to take away the reflexion on the
glass of a window,
All filters have a FILTERFACTOR; because of the density of the colored filters a l
onger exposure time or a wider aperture.is needed
Not all color filters can be used on ORTHO films and NON SENSIBILISED films.
Thank you for sharing a picture of your mom and your knowledge.
Thank you! Not becouse your tips on B&W photography (which i appreciate by all means), but for not being pretencious Leica a-hole. Good work mate.
Thank you. I needed a boost.
Wonderful video! Lots of fun watching it and a lot of interesting things to try. Many thanks, Thorsten.
Welcome, and thank you for the feedback 🙂
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts 👍🏻👍🏻
Love that album!!! ELO Out Of The Blue.
The Opera Running Photo, Bravo!
Thorsten, several years ago I watched a video of yours for the first time. In that video you said something to the effect of that if you don't want to get hooked on Leica, don't watch this video. I watched. I bought an M6 and a 50mm Summicron, then I bought an M262, love them both, and now thinking of a Q2. I have followed you on You Tube ever since that first video.
Yes, it's a fact. Once infected, there is no way back :-)
Same with me. Happy M8 / MD-262 shooter. The 262 is my daily 'to-go' camera (with the 50mm APO Summilux).
Thanks for the Info Thorsten...... Love the ELO album on the mantal...
Yes :-)
A rented M9 with a 50 Lux was my gateway drug into the world of Leica.
Thank you for sharing your experience and your knowledge with us. Your photographs have lots of character and emotion too.
Thank you for the kind words.
Great info here … thanks very much! I’m mostly shooting monochrome JPEG’s + raw with my Fuji X100V. 📷🙂
I learnt a lot today. Thanks very much Thorsten!
You're a Great Teacher !
Thanks. Since most of us see in color most of the time then black and white is a distortion of what we see, which allows to interpret reality in a different way, that we cannot do with colour images, allowing the photographer to add something to the picture
Yes, that is one theory and perception. for sure B&W is a refreshing different look. Try to find black and white paintings. Not many do them, but they stand out.
Lovely video as always. Especially with the Muammar Gaddafi's portrait on a wall...😀
Great video, really informative!
Really good and encouraging.
Thank you!
Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. I just "liked" and subscribed.
Great video
Master at work!!
Hey Thorsten, stor fan! Mega fedt at høre om fotografering på det her niveau
Tak!
Great video!
Thanks Thorston…
. There is always something new in your presentation.
Liked the way you made the point of what a true great BnW picture is!
Thank you :-)
all images look very good and very professional. What puzzles me: all of the images after the old one of your mom look "new", you can tell immediately that the image of the mom and those of the daughter, the make-up girl, the runner, the musician on the other side are decades apart. I still can't tell why is that, maybe you have an answer? Are the newer images kind of "too clear" or "too sharp"? Or what is it that makes old pictures look different, almost always? Different paper? more yellowish (flash-)lights? What would it take to recreate the old image as similar as possible?
Thank you for sharing this, it's great insight for someone like me who's just getting into this. For the image 'Running in the opera', how did you focus using the M10P? Was it a case of pre-focusing on the right spot and waiting for her to reach that spot? Or are you manually turning the focus to follow her?
As Leica shooter and an urge for B/W I loved this video a lot and thanks for sharing.
I love that picture of your mother, beside the photography part, what a beautiful woman with a nice open face.
Now allow me to make a point on modified Color Sensors cameras where the Color Filter is removed because you DON'T get the same result as a factory made B/W camera.
Allow me to explain: When the light hits the color filter where RGB is filtered per color before it hits the "photo diodes" there is a DIFFERENT PER COLOR attenuation due to the filter.
So the exposure of the light hitting the diodes is different per color. Now after the sensor this will be corrected so the exposure levels are equal again (by software - firmware).
Now removing the color filter the exposure of light on the "photo diodes" will be ALL equal but after the sensor the attention per color is STILL THERE so it will give a different output cause one CAN NOT ALTER THE FIRMWARE to take away that per color amplification.
Therefor it is NOT quite the same as a dedicated B/W camera.
Anyways, great video, love your channel
There's a few point the video doesn't deal with. One is the simplicity that a monochrome sensor gives: that you can't alter the colors with kelvin or color channel changes. It's just light. The freedom of the monochrome sensor is that you don't have to deal with "what if?" I do this or that, because the data is not there to manipulate. So one can go two ways on convincing oneself that "this is the right way": 1) Get a monochrome camera and don't care about colors and other possibilities. It is what it is, and it works really well. Or: 2) Get a color sensor, edit to black and white and be convinced that the b&w output one get is just as good as if it was a real monochrome sensor (which is true in the sense that nobody can know, and nobody can really tell the difference from looking at the picture).
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard I totally agree on removing the color filter to get a monochrome camera, and e.g. the micro-contrast will be better. My point is that it is not 100% equal to a factory based monochrome cause not every photocell will give the same rate of exposure. Looking at a B/W image of an altered color sensor it will probably not be noticed. One should change a Q color sensor to monochrome (to keep it a bit affordable hehehe) and compare the shots to a one taken with a monochrome Q.
I hope you get my point.
In addition to that I also put some time in decompiling firmware but I stopped that after a while cause it was very hard (although in a forum, we made some progress)
It surprises me that after I downloaded the free presets I cannot find any instructions on how to install them coming from someone who gives workshops.
just watching this because of the first 10 seconds ; )
I have several of Cartier-Bresson’s books, and there are very few contrasty photos in them. They’re mostly low contrast, gray tones.
He said in an interview that he preferred shooting on overcast days because it had low contrast. He hated photographic “effects”.
This talk on B&W or Colour
would be much more interesting
by showing some SLR 6 x 6 cm camera.
Hasselblad SWC/M, Hasselblad 500 C/M,
Hasselblad 500 EL/M plus some of the backs:
A12, A24, A70, A250, A16, A16s, Pano35,Pola and Sheet film.
Until i grabbed a Leica i never enjoyed shooting BW as other camera brands didnt give those juicy blacks almost film like look. Other brands make it look synthetic, thin with no real depth. Thank GOD for Leica ;))
Yes, Leica has a long tradition for being used to make b&w photos.
Great!
interesting video!
Very interesting take on B&W photography, entertaining to watch! On a different note: I have ordered one of your ventilated shades but I need some support. Where or how can I get help? Thank you!
Thak you for the kind words. Mail to am@overgaard.dk for questions on shades, they are all in stock again after a long time of the border having been closed to the factory.
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard Takk Thorsten! Jeg har sendt en mail til epostadressen fordi jeg ikke tror at min ordre har blitt opprettet på tross av betalingen.
I love your video, is like a class for me. Thank you so much!
Where do you buy those Cartier Bresson and other classic photographers' Prints ?
Thank you. I got the HCB from Peter Fetterman Gallery in LA, he sent out a mail and I was the first one to respond, so when I went there, he had a waiting list of 17 others thad said they wanted it if I didn't take it. The Helmut Newton I got via eBay, one of 10 of that signed edition. Buying signed prints is a good drill in selling signed prints; what I mean is that being a collector gives a good insight into selling to collectors, which you will miss if you don't buy but only sell art.
Firstly, thank you for sharing, and the video is very meaningful and useful for me, for my photography! I love b&w photography. You showed the details , they are very important for me!
Thank you :-) Glad to hear that.
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard Waiting for your next video, thank you!!!
Wait.. You've been to Jakarta???? Wish I could've join your class then. Hope you visit again.
Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed the analysis of your mother's image.
What was her age at the time of the photo? How young was she when you were born? Is she still alive?
I think she was 14 at the time, it was her confirmation photo.
Hey Thorsten! Thank you for providing some understanding about the tones of black and white. I was curious what your thoughts are on the M10-P vs the M10 Monochrome.
My work for the longest has been a mix of color and black and white. Lately, I've been more intrigued by high contrast black and white photography. One of the reasons why I'm leaning towards the Monochrome is because of the simplicity of the rendering from camera to capture one. Also simplifying the shooting process by only focusing on the shot versus the balance of color. What do you think? Be versatile with the M10-P or be specific with the Monochrome?
many thanks :-)
Your mom and daughter are beautiful.
Thank you :-)
My roots. M3, M6, 35 and 90 summicrons, a focomat 2c, tri X and Ilford Gallery paper.. digital cant match analog..
Soligar 😀
I can't decide between making monochrome .jpg files in my camera or converting RAW to monochrome .jpg in my computer. What do others think ?
Colors can be distracting, which takes something out of a good photo
When you shoot colour with Mono JPEG, do you have the viewer set so you view in colour or Mono?
Thanks for the thoughts and keeping it "simple" :-)
I have the EVF viewer set to black and white no matter if I photograph in color or black and white. In the newer Leica cameras, you can set the JPG to black and white but only shoot in color; an the EVF will show the JPG preview setting even you never take or save any of the JPGs. Neat detail.
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard Thanks for that, I use a Fuji GFX50s so a similar setup.
what do you have attached to the lens on the q2 monochrom? thanks
Dear Thorsten, how can I get info on a lens shade I ordered for the Q2?
Mail to am@overgaard.dk - Unfortunately the system is set up so you get a PayPal reciept, and then no information till you get a mail with the tracking number. We don't have a order tracking system.
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard Thanks! When will the lens shade be delivered?
@@DanielNovello Usually 10-20 days from order
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard Thanks for that info. Hardly worth the express shipping cost, I would think:)
@@DanielNovello No, don't bother with that. They all ship with FedEx complimentary now (due to closure of post offices and such ... it's a mess, dont get me started, but getting back to normal)
I rarely shoot in black and white, to be honest I don’t care for it-I trained as a painter and love color, black and white (and shades of grey) seems flat to me, that being said I enjoyed your video Thorsten it was informative and interesting. Thank you. Cheers!
👍🙏
quite basically I find BW photography represents a depiction of the more emotional side of people, objects -where color work is a more objectified, - with a “thing” based bias ..
there are exceptions to this guideline however -take, for example the emotional color work of a Saul Leiter .
Dr.Thorsten.
You are sharing fundamental knowledge and it is very interesting to me, but without subtitles, the content of your channel has become inaccessible to understanding. I Have to unsubscribe from your mailings in order not to get upset once again. With all due respect to your creativity.
Thank you Andrey. UA-cam adds subtitles automatically, but they are not that good. Some of the videos have subtitles added by me a little time after they are released; this one too has subtitles now. You can see that small CC symbol under the videos that have subtitles added by me.
@@MagicOfLight_ThorstenOvergaard
Thanks :) With great pleasure and interest I looked with subtitles :)
Using Legend on the cover shot for the topic is a road to far and offensive. It connects the words black and white to race, not photography. Not good.