Black & White or Color?

[tgtaylor]

A few minutes ago, while washing the evenings dishes, this statement was heard from the television tuned to the weekly PBS programing of Image Makers:

“Take color television...Having had a color television we wouldn't want to go back to black and white...”

That statement caused some pause for consideration. Now I am old enough to have watched both black & white and color television and can truthfully state that I surely wouldn't want to go back to black & white television. But that doesn't hold in photography where I find myself increasingly drawn to the black & white image. Not that I'm opposed to the color image, mind you, for I usually carry both black & white and color films with me, but I find myself shooting more and more black & white as opposed to color. Now why would that be do you suppose? Why would I prefer to look at color images on a television set and black & white still photography images? Do you find yourself similarly situated?

Thomas

[Vaughn]

I had a small portable Sony B&W TV until something went wrong with it in 1975. Must admit that I never minded it not being in color. But then I only watched it on Thursdays when a bunch of us would gather in my room to watch Kung Fu.

[john borrelli]

Well if you have access to an HD TV and a good DVD player you could view some high quality black and white movies and you might be surprised at the artistic quality of the images. Off the top of my head, a high quality DVD of On the Waterfront might be worth checking out, in particular the opening shot of the waterfront with this huge ship in the image. It's worth seeing. You do have to find the best quality recording though. All the best, John

[N Dhananjay]

I think it has to do with how well the medium is handled. I shudder (for the wrong reasons) to think of watching Psycho in colour.

But as far as consumerism goes, a colour TV presumably still lets you watch B&W movies while the reverse is not possible. Quite a different kettle of fish from choosing a medium because it lets you do something you want to do. I make photographs exclusively in B&W but I also paint. It has been interesting to see how those things 'talk' to each other, and more importantly how they teach me 'seeing'. I discover quite different things through the two mediums and have done a couple of trips where I have done both and was struck by how each medium let me discover different things.

Cheers, DJ

[Pawlowski6132]

Huh? You're comparing watching TV to viewing B/W art ????

[Cletus]

Huh? You're comparing watching TV to viewing B/W art ????

Gotta agree with Pawlowski on this one - while television and still photography are both two dimensional....image media (?) I think that's where the similarities end. The information or emotional response that a black and white photograph might convey would be difficult to compare with anything seen on television.

Also, IMO, I personally prefer black and white photographs to color for the many reasons that have been discussed at length. Black and white photographs communicate information exclusively through light, shadow, shape and texture, which our brains perceive differently as the image can only exist as a photograph. Unless you are color blind, but I couldn't imagine that. In a color photograph (again, IMO) color becomes the primary means of communication, with all the other elements in secondary position. ...I don't know a better wat to say it....

Not only that, but color photography is what digital is for! I had to get that little dig in there. ;) Nothing personal! :) :) :)

[Drew Wiley]

Color photography is what digital has messed up!

[Brian C. Miller]

When Captain Kangaroo first aired, the show was in black & white. Then in the mid-60s it switched to color. Captain Kangaroo's jacket went from blue to red.

When something is originally shot in color, would you want to view it in black and white? Take the example of a fire truck with a background of trees and shrubbery with flat lighting. Is that more interesting in color or black and white? On the other hand, a cala lily with dramatic lighting. Black and white or color? Both can hold their own. Black and white marbles on a grey background. Could you tell the difference between black and white or color?

Has digital ruined color? I don't think so. What is being done with HDR is what has been done with black and white for decades. However, most B&W photography doesn't go "unicorns and flying ponies" overboard in the image. But as far as dramatizing the contrast? Heck, yeah! Just usually not with the unicorns...

Where digital has ruined things is with its dynamic range. The DR is too small, and then some sensors go into a magenta fringe with too much exposure. And then when everything is perfect, the color is still off! What gives with that? Why can't the factory get that stuff right? (And focus, too! What gives??)

[Andrew O'Neill]

Hockey. A black puck on white ice. Better on a B/W TV or colour TV?

[Ari]

Hockey. A black puck on white ice. Better on a B/W TV or colour TV?

Yes. :)

[jp]

Keep in mind that the final output display was in mind when someone created a TV show. We wouldn't want to watch Austin Powers or the Dukes of Hazzard on a b&w TV, and some of the old B&W classic stuff never translated well to a color interpretation/remake/reincarnation. People started making things that worked well in color but would not work well in B&W; just using their recording medium.

It's similar to the switch to high def for sports. 1080 res seems like it's made for better showing the basketball player's tattoo, the otherwise invisble hockey puck practically teleporting about above the ice, or the baseball line drive that didn't show well on the old analog NTSC system. You wouldn't go back because things are recorded to be viewed in a certain way.

[Andrew O'Neill]

oooh I love watching hockey on my big HD telly!!

[ic-racer]

Black and white photography and color are totally different things. One is based on shadows and silver, while the other is done with an i-phone.