I spent the entire week shooting in black and white after reading a prominent photographer's process of shooting. His process entails using only prime lenses; shooting in raw, manual mode (including ISO) and monochrome setting on the camera. He doesn't use exposure compasation and is 100% dependent on the histogram. Before stepping out for a shoot he sets his camera to 1/250 sec. (never going lower) and sets his f stop to f/2.8. What he apparently changes constantly is the ISO depending on the light surrouding the area he chooses to shoot.
As you know I am not a monchrome enthusiast but decided to try his process for the fun of it.
I took my 50mm prime lens, attached to the Z and copied his setting.
As most of your know, if you shoot in raw, the colors are still there. Therefore, I knew if I didn't like the way the black and white turned out, I could always change to color in Lightroom.
BTW Lightroom, in past, used to import monochrome photos into its library and as you soon as you wanted to edit, the photo would be transformed into color. Fortunately, they have changed that system now, hence even in the edit screen the photos remain black and white and until one decides to change the setting.
The photo below is exactly (minus changing from RAW to jpeg) what came out of the camera.
The settings I used for the above are 50mm, f/2.8, 1/320 sec. & ISO 125.
Obviously, I didn't quite stick to the 1/250 sec. he had suggested and quite honestly not sure why...force of habbit of changing speed versus the ISO I would say. I also am not used to using the histrogram in the camera and if doing 'street phtography' time is of essence.
That's my story and I am sticking to it 😉.
I decided to change the photo into color in Lightroom just to see what it actually looks like.
I believe I see color better than black and white.
No editing was done on the above except for telling Lightroom to show me the RAW photo in color. Somewhat flat photo which with some tweaking might be something.
Then I decided to tweak the color a bit and see the results.
The setting of my "tweak" is captured below.....
Still leaning towards the darker side on the histogram but there is more white and highlights as well as vibrance.
I ended up taking 220 photos during the week, in black and white.
Yes, Peter black and white! 😆
No doubt, a good number of them will be landing in the bin, but I must add that some of them grabbed my attention, even though they are monochrome.
Not sure if my taste is changing or not, but for now it has been a fun experiment.
Of course, I would love to hear your comments and thoughts as well as suggestions.
Excellent experimentation - I hereby grant you an honorary title of PhD in Science Shennagins for your flexibly rigid adherence to methodology. I've done the same before digitally just as with my old film cameras, f8 and 1/125 on ASA400 Tri-X. Mixed results, but I'll still make a run at from time to time.
ReplyDeleteMy problem in shooting in mono is that, even though I always shoot for the histogram no matter the mode, that little sucker doesn't tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ON1 only opens the RAW in color, so I work with color tones, then go to B&W conversion.
We always look first at the brightest areas of an image, so your first one does pull me toward the woman. The saturated color, to me, makes me hesitate in locking in on the subject. I also tend to see more detail, in most cases, in a monochrome image because color "bleed" can take so of that out. Anyway, what do I know - it's a good image and a great way to continue learning. Keep on keepin' on!☺️
Thanks John. I've been shooting so many of the same things while down here that I figured playing with mono might make a slight difference in how I entertain myself. I, opposite to you, tend to see more detail in color than in mono, eventhough as you say, the colors bleed. I found, after looking at the tons of photos I took in mono, that mono is much more forgiving when you have crappy shots.
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DeleteI admire your dedication to the cause Camellia. It's way beyond anything I would have the inclination to really look into but interesting to read your report
ReplyDeleteThank you Peter, a girl's got to entertain themselves somehow 😉
DeleteWell done on the dedication of the subject
ReplyDeleteI prefer this photo in colour because of the lady's blue sunglass. Her sunglass gives an extra to the photograph. Otherwise can't help you much in black and white as I am not good with it and it's a lot of trial and error. But I notice that night photography is really a good candidate for B&W.
ReplyDeleteMy god, 220 photos in monochrome, must have been torture for you. But glad you did it. Do not know why he only changed his iso. A luxury from our modern cameras. If I use primes, I always go for twice the speed of the focal lenght used, if possible. Your photo I actually prefer in color, the subject stands out more. You are right that monochrome is more forgiving for not so good photos. I love the play between light and dark, also for stronger contrasts. It is easy to get grey photos. Well done and I am sure you have learned something.
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