Black and White Street Photography.

[orvillerobertson]

I shoot in black & white since I see in black & white. I don't care what anyone else shoots.

Only the results matter. It all should be a deeply personal choice. Many also choose to shoot

with color and black & white. For me b;ack & white is the clearest path to understanding

quickly before I press the shutter.

[Uhooru]

Hey Mike no prob, I just was questioning the use of the term cliche in that context, it is a bit loaded. I suppose it could be, but so could anything for that matter. Plus, I'm not sure your premise is correct. If you look at a site such as flickr and even amongst professional photogs doing what we loosely refer to as "street", you will see at least as much street work is being done in color if not more.

 

It may be that you are looking at photographers from the 50's and 60's? I myself tend to go back and forth, weighted a little more to b/w.

 

 

Eugene, ha ha, you bit..the real reason is because when I went to NY and hooked up w/Orville, he said he'd shoot me if I used color film.... Naw, just kidding. You know that I shoot enough color that my remark was tongue-firmly-in cheek.

 

However, if the question is as Jeff felt, that color is more interesting, I would have to say it can be. I've seen some color work that just blows me away. I mean just working with color tempeture is a huge area I look at, not to mention color relationships on and on. I suppose it depends on how you define interesting.

[Uhooru]

<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/492229251_71d7f933ff.jpg?v=0">

[rubenwensing]

My idea or opinion is that B&W often is used as an easy way out.

Only if you manage to use the available colors in such a manner that they become a tool to strenghten the picture, it can be used very succesful, as some of the above pictures show.

When the colors can`t be used in such a manner, the b&W is the best way to go ;)

[eugene_scherba]

<p><i>When the colors can`t be used in such a manner, the b&W is the best way to go

;)</i></p>

 

<p>It's not as simple as that. When many of your most important pictures are in color, to

extend that body of work, you continue to shoot color, even when color lets you down

sometimes. When you strive for consistency, you can't just say "ok, color works for this pic,

so it stays in color, but that one's got to be b&w, 'cuz the color sucks there." When people do

that, I know immediately who they are.</p>

[ray .]

yeah, I agree with Eugene. It takes a real man to shoot color. B&W is for sissies.

[sprouty]

I thought images were shot in B&W because: it was avialable first, it was cheaper, and because the process of develpoment was more manageable.

 

But I could be all wrong...

[ray .]

How about this..?

 

.. It just looks good.

[Allen Herbert]

It's just what works for a individual photo.That simple really.

[johnw436]

Color can be distracting from the main subject. I'm no street photographer, but I love looking at it. To me, street photography is every day documentary.

 

Consider war photography. Just think of a good war photo in your mind. It's probable that you are imagining misery on a grand scale, or a single soldier wracked with emotion and suspended in time. In either case color doesn't add anything useful to the image.

 

Imagine documentary photography of extreme poverty in South America. Now imagine the same black and white photo where the buildings and everyone's clothes are bright and cheerful looking. Color used inventively might make a good irony in the photo, but more than likely it will lessen the impact of the photo because the pretty, happy colors distract from the idea of the image.

 

I like black and white because it can help remove the image from a specific point in time. If a guy in a photo is wearing red and green plaid pants and a white belt then it screams 1970's. Maybe that's a cool thing for one photo, but doesn't lend itself to timelessness if the point of the photo isn't about the '70s.

 

Just my .02 and worth half that.

[orvillerobertson]

Actually, to turn back to the original question of why street photography is in black & white, I

would lay good money that most street photography these days is in color and perhaps a

majority of that is shot digitally. I continue to shoot with simple manual-focus rangefinders

and in black & white because it's so basic and simple for me. I'm pretty sure I could do well

shooting in color digital using a bigger SLR or medium format camera, but I choose to not go

that way. My equipment choices give me confidence, and that shows up in the photographs. I

used to shoot with several Canon SLRs but found the viewfinder not as capable as the all-

seeing-all-in-focus rangefinder viewfinder. Sometimes I even forget to focus.

[Uhooru]

Yeah, I think actually, if you look on some of sights like flickr, certainly Magnum photo, Aperture, etc.. there is probably more "street" being done in color. I agree w/Allen. Its what works for the photo. Its not a matter of "saving" a pic to b/w, that seldom works. I would venture to guess that most people using computers for their files works that way, given a color image starting point unless a project is being done specifically in color or b/w.

[hxt]

Some photographers, myself included, prefer shooting street from the hip, on the fly, with

zone focusing, on a manual film-based camera, with no meter, and find the more forgiving

lattitude of Black and White film to be more suited to our 'style' than colour. (?)<div></div>

[hxt]

For eugene.....<div></div>

[ivan_bird]

I personally think it's about an emotion and whether you capture that emotion in black and

white or colour is irelevant - as irelevant as the lens or the shutter speed or the camera it's

shot on. it has to move you.

[Allen Herbert]

Ivan Bird, Nov 22, 2007; 04:22 p.m.

 

Holy Moses,there is life on the planet earth.

[Allen Herbert]

Sometimes I even forget to focus.

 

Orville, I can't believe you actually said that. Obviously you are getting overexcited, and could possibly end up wetting yourself.

 

Time to move on, and get a auto focus cam, so you can concentrate on the image instead of the worry of the cam.

 

Keep posting, mate..... top class photography.

[ivan_bird]

I just had a look at your night pic's orville and they are really interesting - contrasty and

for that could easily be in colour too - better for being in focus.....

[ivan_bird]

ps I meant generally regarding focus and not the figures - really like them.

[eugene_scherba]

<p><i>I personally think it's about an emotion and whether you capture that emotion in

black and white or colour is irelevant</i></p>

 

<p>I am only moved by cyanotypes and monochromes done in a range from cyan to royal

blue. Everything else doesn't move me.</p>

[orvillerobertson]

Allen, I really do sometimes forget to focus. Sometimes I forget to check the exposure.

Sometimes I click the shutter before finalizing the focus because my instinct tells me what

exact moment to click. I don't zone focus very much, even with my wides.

[Allen Herbert]

I click the shutter before finalizing the focus because my instinct tells me what exact moment to click.

 

Ha,you must be a photographer.

[vivek iyer]

Jeff, Nice images.

[amorteguy]

B&W a clich鿠What a ridiculous statement.

 

The choice between shooting color or B&W is made on many factors. To reduce the choice to a clich頩s asinine. I shoot color, and I shoot B&W. My favorite photographers shot color and B&W. And yes, HCB shot color later in his career.

 

To debate photographic merit based upon materials used it a waste of time. And so, by the way, is looking through many of the photos posted by photographers who attempt to pass themselves off as "street" photographers on this site.

[eugene_scherba]

<p><i>The choice between shooting color or B&W is made on many factors.</i></p>

 

<p>Of course, but cliche seems to be by far the most prevalent of them.</p>

 

<p>Anthony, HCB is completely irrelevant to this thread; I don't know why you're bringing

him up. In the same way, it is completely irrelevant who your favorite photographers are.

It is asinine and ludicrous to reduce the difference between color and B&W to the

difference between materials the way you're doing it in your comment.</p>

 

<p>Being a "street" photographer is not a badge of honor nor does it mean that your

images are at a certain level of quality. If you shoot in the street, and there are some

random people in your pictures, you're a street photographer, period. Doesn't mean you're

on par with Robert Frank or anything like that.</p>

 

<p>It seems to me that your comment was the biggest waste of time on this thread, both

to you and everybody else.</p>