Digital cameras do not produce either the clarity of large frame B&W film, nor the gritty grain effect of fast 35mm . So the full, artistic uses of B&W are best left to the film camera.
Richard Davies - 10 years ago
Nilsen,
You underestimate the value of constraints.
Nilson - 10 years ago
This must be, photographically speaking, analagous to saying
'Hey, I don't really enjoy walking. So let me just have my legs cut off, so as I can constrain myself to only crawling from now on!'
Utterly bonkers!
Richard Davies - 10 years ago
Mike Ward-Sale - my apologies!
Richard Davies - 10 years ago
While I don't really see the point in restricting yourself to only being ever able to take monochrome images, I do have to take issue with what Mike Searle says.
Just because the eye does not see in B&W does not mean anything. The eye sees in many ways that are not analagous to photography. The eye, for example, doesn't see like a fisheye lens does but people still use them to make a creative image. The point is that photography is all about exploiting human perceptual biases. Some, like our preference for red, need colour. Some, generally more compositionally oriented biases, are often best in black and white.
That and as I still shoot film the constraints of developing still apply to me.
Mike Ward-Sale - 10 years ago
The whole B & W thing is pure Pseuds Corner fodder.
It was kicking around when I was at art college, yonks ago.
We sniggered at the pretentious rubbishspeak peddled by our lecturers.
We do not SEE in monochrome, unless we are seriously visually and medically handicapped.
Colour and mono images are now equally easy to process, so the old limitations of cost and temperature control no longer apply and discussion is pure affectation.
Lets stop waffling about the subject, as technology has long since caught up and this pretentious addiction to past constraints is both meaningless and amateurish.
Lurcio - 10 years ago
What is the point of changing a camera to take only black and white, its a well known fact that the B&W setting on digital cameras is not that effective - far better to convert post capture
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Digital cameras do not produce either the clarity of large frame B&W film, nor the gritty grain effect of fast 35mm . So the full, artistic uses of B&W are best left to the film camera.
Nilsen,
You underestimate the value of constraints.
This must be, photographically speaking, analagous to saying
'Hey, I don't really enjoy walking. So let me just have my legs cut off, so as I can constrain myself to only crawling from now on!'
Utterly bonkers!
Mike Ward-Sale - my apologies!
While I don't really see the point in restricting yourself to only being ever able to take monochrome images, I do have to take issue with what Mike Searle says.
Just because the eye does not see in B&W does not mean anything. The eye sees in many ways that are not analagous to photography. The eye, for example, doesn't see like a fisheye lens does but people still use them to make a creative image. The point is that photography is all about exploiting human perceptual biases. Some, like our preference for red, need colour. Some, generally more compositionally oriented biases, are often best in black and white.
That and as I still shoot film the constraints of developing still apply to me.
The whole B & W thing is pure Pseuds Corner fodder.
It was kicking around when I was at art college, yonks ago.
We sniggered at the pretentious rubbishspeak peddled by our lecturers.
We do not SEE in monochrome, unless we are seriously visually and medically handicapped.
Colour and mono images are now equally easy to process, so the old limitations of cost and temperature control no longer apply and discussion is pure affectation.
Lets stop waffling about the subject, as technology has long since caught up and this pretentious addiction to past constraints is both meaningless and amateurish.
What is the point of changing a camera to take only black and white, its a well known fact that the B&W setting on digital cameras is not that effective - far better to convert post capture