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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Pictures where color is king, essential and make things work powerfully!

Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
It's about time, let's celebrate our life that must seen in color!

It's the codes for humans. The blush of shyness, the pallor of shock, the emerald green of seas off southern Turkey, the main of a lion, all are componants that can hardly ever be replaced by just tonalities.

Show your pictures that must be in color to have full effect and where going to B&W would indeed be, draining its life blood.

Asher

Anything that easily goes to B&W and even improves as a monotone giving more impact, doesn't belong here, so test it first. :)
 
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John Angulat

pro member
Where color is king

From a very old post.
Still one of my favorites.
I don't think this image would have any appeal to me in B&W:

JJA4670sm.jpg
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Asher,

Asher Kelman said:
It's about time, let's celebrate our life that must seen in color!

It's the codes for humans. The blush of shyness, the pallor of shock, the emerald green of seas off southern Turkey, the main of a lion, all are componants that can hardly ever be replaced.

Show your pictures that must be in color to have full effect and where going to B&W is indeed, drain the life blood.

Asher

Anything that easily goes to B&W and even improves as a monotone giving more impact, doesn't belong here, so test it first. :)
Click to expand...
I think you are way too clever. By apparently giving us color fans a chance to prove the added value of color, you are also giving us a rope by which we can hang ourselves, aren't you? <LOL>

I think that you'll end up proving is that any good picture with a good composition and structure will survive the conversion to B&W and some will become even better as you wrote yourself. The other way around things are different and color is not always an added value. So you are at an advantage here :). Or perhaps not as there are also pictures which never can be as good in B&W as they are in color. My mind goes immediately out to the typical photographs of Nicolas, with those super yachts sailing on azure waters.

Although I prefer color to B&W in general, I evaluate each picture individually before I draw any conclusions. It is a pet irritation of mine when people think along the lines of: "oh it doesn't work in color so let's make it B&W to make it look artsy and interesting". To be fair to all, I also don't like asking for a color version of a picture when the photographer has chosen do show his/her work in B&W. Except when the OP is asking for C&C and a different (color) version is relevant to the discussion.

Nevertheless, here is a snap (nothing fancy, nothing artsy, nothing special: just a snap) which to my mind wouldn't work in B&W as well as it does in color. YMMV.

f05371.jpg

​

Cheers,
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Cem,

I'm straightforward in this. We want to remove any impression that OPF could be drifting towards a monochrome view of life, despite the showing of more than a few strong images that are only energized in B&W presentation. Still, we can show that this is hardly the rule! Some pictures must be in color to have full effect. B&W might be also effective, but in these cases, the concept is likely altered drastically as the necessary vocabulary of color is missing.

We want to emphasize here works where color iis part of the essential vocabulary. So in this thread, we just want to celebrate those pictures that depend absolutely on color for success and the two examples by John, Cem and Ruben are just that.

Thanks and let's have more! :)

Asher
 
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janet Smith

pro member
Some really nice shots here, so here is my offering, no way would this work without colour!

IMG_5618A.jpg


Autumn - Acer Palmatum Seiryu​
 
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Mike Shimwell

New member
Some Northumbrian colour

All shot for colour and I think they work best (only!) in colour:)

Mike


After night falls - Mike Shimwell
4279907361_91e2fd5148_o.jpg



Celebration! - Mike Shimwell
4279907899_1bb41e2b4a_o.jpg



Holy Island Causeway -
4279906965_6fa773bb6c_o.jpg
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Janet, Mike and Tom,

This collection is building a good sense of where color matters so much!

Thanks for sharing. Who else has examples!

Asher
 
L

leonardobarreto.com

pro member
Can't imagine this pepper not having its redness. I wonder what would happen if I photoshoped it in to skin color !


DSCF0002.jpg

​

I used to work as a PJ with TriXPan developed with D76 -sometimes even with Dektol, you just dipped the film in to the PAPER developer and count to 10 or something like that, can't remember, and you had a photo in to newspaper in no time Lol-- needless to say that this was strictly B&W. For some reason I just lived in this monochromatic world and all my old photos are perfectly well the way they are. At that time a revolution let itself know -for me at least- in the form of Susan Meisselas


Meiselas%20Nica.jpg

[Image redirected for non-commercial discussion]


Showing us the potential -and challenges of chrome slide film.

A few revolutions latter we all probably shoot all color, so this is an interesting question...
 
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S

Steve Davis

New member
Hi All! I'm knew here. Here's two of mine that I can't imagine having impact without color.


766998562_7twnt-O.jpg



766997462_GTqWB-O.jpg


Without the color to separate the elements in this one, the wagon wheel and the fence behind become a jumbled mess.
 
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Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Paul's picture, above, would be hardly as impressive in B&W. Here the color works to distinguish the light textured portion of the architecture. It's sand color is particularly beautiful and is part of the identity of the building and makes this photograph in contrast to the Nigel's use of dark shadow as a contrasting geometric component of this striking composition.

A simple test for color, is to ask the question, what work is it doing for the picture? Here the answer is, "everything!"

Asher
 
S

Steve Robinson

New member
The weather been pretty dismal outside so I decided to try a macro inside. The dreary snowy weather made for some decent available light to illuminate the violets. Pentax K20D + SMC M 100mm f/4 Macro, 4s @ f/22, ISO 100.

782332844_KZQ25-O.jpg
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Steve Robinson said:
The weather been pretty dismal outside so I decided to try a macro inside. The dreary snowy weather made for some decent available light to illuminate the violets. Pentax K20D + SMC M 100mm f/4 Macro, 4s @ f/22, ISO 100.

782332844_KZQ25-O.jpg
Click to expand...

would have argued against anything more than f 8.0. Obviously what is blurred by the small aperture is not being resolved by the sensor and you have very sharp details. I'm so impressed. This fits n with one of my sayings, "Don't "think", try instead!"

This s a most remarkable and original composition with a sense of the yellow hands that holds the sword.

Kudos to you and mother nature!

Another win for color photography!

Asher
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fahim,

This one is such a great example of the necessity of color. There are few graffiti pantings that work in B&W. I expect there might be some that depend on composition more than the bold surprise strokes and rebellious screaming statements startling colors.

Asher
 
P

Phil Marion

New member
I suppose this one would still look good in colour if processsed by someone proficient in convert to B&W - my attempts are not very good.

3670900326_e35af32437_o.jpg
 
P

Phil Marion

New member
Thanks Bart - as much as I like the photo, i also like the story behind the photo. The shot almost never happened...all because of my own ingrained stupidity.

I was leaving to go to the Gay Parade in my city and decided I need an umbrella because it was raining. I couldn't find my own. My girlfriend gave me the one pictured above. My immediate reaction was "I not walking around with this silly umbrella!". I spent another 10 minutes frantically looking for my black umbrella but to no avail. I grudgingly took the colourful one thinking I'd use only it if I had to protect my gear. it wasn't until I got to the parade that I realised how stupid and pigheaded I was. The umbrella was PERFECT for the parade.
At one point I looked up and saw the colour and the raindrops and realised that I had a great photo. And how I almost didn't get a chance to see it - all because of my own stupidity.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Harvey Jewett said:
I don't know, it's easy to like a sunset.

img3278sm.jpg
Click to expand...
Harvey,

At the size shown, the players are too small to discern properly. There's action going on but we cannot know it. The sky is a sunset and so has to compete with all the sunset imges we have seen. It's the extra things that will make this distinguished. However, here, although they might be compelling, we cannot apprecaite that. Things are too small!

So if we'd see the players, perhaps that would make the picture that must have color. I suggest at least double the size and lightenng the figures a tad, if you can.

Asher
 
H

Harvey Jewett

New member
OK, here it is a bit bigger and brighter. Unfortunately I shot this a while ago with a Canon 20D and so the shadow detail is a bit lacking. Thanks for your comments!

picnicisover.jpg
 
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Matthew Bryan

New member
One of several shot this afternoon

I brought flowers home for my wife and couldn't resist taking some shots. Here's one...

img_4900-1024x768.jpg
 
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