When color is nearly B&W

[Vincent Malaud]

Hello,

For personnel research, I would like to work on an architecture series on the use of concrete (buildings, infrastructures, highway brides…) in 4x5’ color.

I seek a special tonal look where colors in the scene turn to be almost a range of grey. Do you see what I mean? (Check this Dutch photographer to help visualizing it: http://www.desireedolron.com/)

How could I obtain such a result?

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've gotten effects like that with Polaroid Type 809 in 8x10". For negative film, try Portra 160NC. For transparency film try Fuji Astia. An older uncoated lens might help as well to reduce color saturation.

[mortuus]

Vincent,

Being a lover of Desiree Dolron's work myself, I thought I'd pass on to you what little information I have on the topic of her style.

Firstly, on her website, different projects are represented - all with different looks and qualities. Which one of her projects did you have in mind? For practical purposes I am going to assume that you were thinking of her Xteriors project - hauntingly beautiful images indeed!

Secondly, speaking of Xteriors, it is vital to have in mind that they are heavily photoshopped! So if you want to go down her path, that is what you would have to do yourself. The info I have on this comes from an interview with her I read in the Norwegian magazine Fotografi. Assuming that you don't speak Norwegian, I'll do an impromptu translation of on of the passages for you:

Manipulated Images (on Xteriors)

Every square mm of my images are digitally manipulated, says Desiree. Not just the skin tones, but also the facial features themselves. In some cases I combined features from
several faces to obtain what I had pictured in my mind's eye. Xteriors being the first project where I became serious about digital manipulation, it took me a good three years to finish all the images.

(Interview by Michael Dee)

The link to the interview is

http://www.fotografi.no/wip4/desiree_dolron_beroemt_paa_to_tre/d.epl?id=133631


Hope this helps.

Eirik

[Struan Gray]

An older generation of low-saturation architecture shots were done by under-exposing and over-developing RA4 paper using a colour negative of normal contrast. Lots of trial and error to get the colour balance right, but once sorted it works nicely.

[Vincent Malaud]

Hej Mortuus,

Takk. Indeed I was referring to her series Xteriors. ( I am also amazed by her photographs) I was afraid it was the result of a heavy work in Photoshop… Fear confirmed!

If I want to avoid this path, what other options do I have? Use of filters ? Shooting at night ? Under-exposing?

[Bill_1856]

If you're put off by the effort and expense it takes to make these images digitally, you could try the only other process which could do it -- Dye Transfer. (I think it wouldn't take you long to appreciate the power of Photoshop.)
However, the main ingredient is the artist's imagination and dedication.

[Vincent Malaud]

I just read about Dye Transfer... Hmmm it seems a bit out of reach !

[Jim Galli]

In Photoshop, slide the "saturation" slider in hue-saturation to the left.

[BrianShaw]

I like that desaturated look - suggest Porta 160NC, maybe even with a bit of Photoshop desaturation.

I've never tried this... so this is a question rather than a solution: can one shoot through a Wratten 90 and get monochrome(ish) on color film?

[David A. Goldfarb]

Check out this thread for various examples of low-saturation--

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=28498

I have a Polaroid 809 example in post #19.

[Donald Miller]

http://www.panosfx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=186&Itemid=27

[Gordon Moat]

Fuji Astia 100F, then shoot on an overcast day near noon. Everything will appear stark, crisp, and washed out. You could add 1/3 stop exposure to desaturate a bit more. While maybe not quite B/W, it would be more monochromatic.

You could also do very early morning, when the light is very blue, though again some overcast helps. Basically, look for scenes that are monochromatic, then that feel of tones can come through. However, I think there is good reason to break things up a bit, and have a little bit of colour in an otherwise monochromatic image. It's a good direction to explore, but you might want to be very critical of the results.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[john borrelli]

I was not familiar with this work, Xteriors is beautiful stuff. I would only add FWIW,you are going to have to pay close attention to the exposure values of your backgrounds. There are no blown out highlights in those backgrounds, background values generally seem darker than what you would normally have if these were only naturally lit subjects.

[Vincent Malaud]

Thank you for your input. I will start up experimenting now

[Kevin Convery]

Have you heard of bleach by-pass? The movie saving private ryan used the technique, when processing positives they simply skip the bleaching step which leaves a lot of the silver salts and what not behind on the image. It gives it a lot of contrast but really low saturation. I've tried this before with my local lab telling them what to do and it never really worked out well but I tried a different method hoping to get the same effect. Since you're doing architecture this might work, though a little bit of a pain: Shoot two negatives of the building one using color negative, kodak 160NC or Fuji 160S then shoot the exact same image on a BW negative with similar ISO and grain structure. You can then sandwich the negatives together and print that way or scan them in to your computer and overlay them in photoshop. Its a huge pain in the ass but if you are trying to avoid digital effects you could give it a shot.