In my “When To Ditch Color” posting earlier this morning, somebody referring to himself as “somebody” left this comment:
You’re just WRONG, Jimbeaux! Black-and-white makes no more sense than adjusting color so that the picture is in red-and-white, green-and-white, or blue-and-white. Black-and-white photography, like sepia before it, is just a primitive technology. The only legitimate use of either is to create an artificial antique look or mood. No normal person sees that way, so why would you want to photograph that way? Converting a color photo to black-and-white is “ditching” information about the subject. Publishing such a photo to the web is disrespecting your viewers by withholding information from them and forcing them to view through your prejudices. Way to go as a communicator, Jimbeaux! You need to decide if you’re doing photo-journalism or “abstract art.” Next time, why don’t you publish your train pictures upside-down in purple?
First, please note that there is no “e” in Jimbaux. Second, as for your last sentence about showing my “train pictures upside-down in purple,” feast your eyes on this:
Kind of psychedelic, eh? Well, I’m pretty sure that “somebody” isn’t into that kind of stuff, but that’s okay.
I’m sorry, but that’s as close to I could get to making it purple, and I don’t care to make further attempts! Remember that purple is not a primary color, and I’m therefore not even sure that what you describe is even possible in practice. It probably is, but I just don’t know how to do it and don’t care to know how. (It can be done – and I can do it – in red, green, or blue.) Since purple, which, again, is not a primary color, is formed by the combination of red and blue, meaning that you can’t have one without the other, and since there are no hints of blue on the trees, what we see above is the closest we (or I) can get to showing the train only in purple.
I’ll have plenty more to say about that comment from “somebody” in a future posting, probably the next one. “Somebody,” whoever you are, I appreciate your participation in Jimbaux’s Journal. Thank you.
In the meantime, everyone, go back to the comment section from that article and see BobE’s reply to my question of why I chose to present the image in grayscale in the first place. The answers he gave are all correct, but there’s one thing missing. There’s one more reason why I decided to go gray in that image, and you can tell by looking at it. Hint: it’s very much related to the reasons that BobE already posted. Can you figure it out? If so, post something in the comments section!
Before the Big Game
While I’ve got y’all here, you Louisiana and Mississippi folks in the audience might appreciate what I put on the NOLA Post showing the scene in the French Quarter early on that Sunday. Check it out here: http://nolapost.com/2010/02/super-bowl-sunday-before-the-game/
Until next time, dear Jimbauxlings . . .
Jimbaux
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“Somebody” needs to view the Wizard of Oz again. The black and white (originally sepia) beginning plays in contrast to the color section following. I guess “somebody” was cheated by the beginning to movie and wants to pick it up in Muchkinland to get the full range of the story, or would something essential be lost if you only saw the yellow brick road? Let’s just “ditch” the beginning and start with the yellow brick road. The movie would make so much sense to “somebody” from that point on. Let’s just “ditch” artistic license and toss Ansel Adams into the dust bin of photographic history. Got to go. I’m coloring Mathew Brady’s Civil War pics tonight so they can all be accurate.
Dude,
You have a STRONG sense of humor
Tex Collins
972-262-0423
Thanks for the entertaining read!
You know Somebody is right on some of their points. Black and white has its place and in some cases can actually show more detail in being so, whats the word I am looking for, maybe basic. When you photograph something in B&W you are trying to portray the image as being old. I do that here in the Philippines when I photograph old churches or farmers in the rice field plowing behind a carabow (like a water buffalo). I want to make the image look primative, old, or classic. A color shot in those cases just does not fill the bill. B&W does have its place, but Somebody is right, not with modern equipment such as your KCS train. Steam engines, no problem.
what you shoot and how you shoot it is your call.
btw, what kind of camera do you use?
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