B&W Forum - Yes or No

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Originally Posted by ericmark

However a section for wet process may be? Where those who still use a darkroom and use the enlarger to modify their image, they may wish to talk about this unique part of the process. Which to those of us that us that use digital we would likely find boring.
My sister still dabbles in the dark art and with a name like Ceridwen, it suits her. (In Welsh, it means white witch) I however can never see myself returning to sticking bits of card in over exposed areas to reduce exposure and spending 2 hours to produce one completed image, which I have to go through whole process again to repeat.

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I think alternative photography would cover the wet process. I shoot B&W on Camera even on my DSLR if am planning the shot in B&W. When I went to digital a few years ago I thought I can shoot colour and convert them to B&W later. The difference for shooting in B&W I find to be a whole other mindset, it is not colour and should not be shot in colour. Once you shoot in B&W overtime you understand what you are shooting and why it is not colour and should not be colour converted big difference when you get into it. What is pushing me back to film the B&W . I will not be doing a dark room but more than likely and Epson V7000 or a used V7500.

so if I have a series of photos, and one happens to be B&W do I have to eliminate that one and post it on its own in the B&W area? I often do just one or two in a group and I'd hate to have to segregate that one on its own.

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Originally Posted by Wicked Dark

so if I have a series of photos, and one happens to be B&W do I have to eliminate that one and post it on its own in the B&W area? I often do just one or two in a group and I'd hate to have to segregate that one on its own.

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I think this is where things will be messy somewhat.

People like us, who shoot mostly without B&W in mind and then convert later when we realize something might look good in monotone will likely not use a separate B&W forum section especially if our B&W is part of a set of photos.
Purists like A.L will use the B&W section exclusively if they have a B&W shot.

But if we have a separate section I hope we have more purists here than just A.L and one or two others because it's not like A.L has ever been prolific in his posting of photos. On the other hand, that might make it all the more special/unique.

One more point that should be taken into consideration is that I very often will do both a colour and a BW version of the same image and post for comparison viewing....I am not sure where I would post in that case. :shrug:
Seems easier to just leave things as be for the time being as and Marko pointed out there is not an overwhelming positive response for it according to the poll...I believe it has pretty much been a constant 60/40 split.

It's a tough one.

But do we say no to this just because only a few members might use it passionately?

Maybe a trial period could be considered. Something like 3 months perhaps to see if it does get used enough to warrant being in it's own section.

I still think making it the leading sub-forum under Alternative Photography is probably the easiet answer for now.

I'll get back on my fence now ... I seem to be playing devil's avocate here.

so getting back to my question, what happens to my photo? will it be moved or eliminated from the color forum if it's part of a series that includes color?

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Originally Posted by Wicked Dark

so getting back to my question, what happens to my photo? will it be moved or eliminated from the color forum if it's part of a series that includes color?

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I don't see that a photo would be removed from the current forums if it's part of a set, or part of a critique thread.

It would be expected though, if you put up a thread that only contains B&W photos, that you would use the new forum if it gets created.

But lets remember ... nothing is decided. Currently the current forums are adequate. But forums like this do need to evolve as demand dictate. Marko 'simply' has to decide if the demand is present and if now is the right time.

Well if I deliberately make a photo B&W, then I think it should be shown on the merits of its black and whiteness, in which case I would put it in the B&W section. if B&W is an afterthought as in "here is a photo and oh, here it is in B&W", then it does not need to go in the B&W unless the photographer decides to put it there.

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Originally Posted by AcadieLibre

I think alternative photography would cover the wet process. I shoot B&W on Camera even on my DSLR if am planning the shot in B&W. When I went to digital a few years ago I thought I can shoot colour and convert them to B&W later. The difference for shooting in B&W I find to be a whole other mindset, it is not colour and should not be shot in colour. Once you shoot in B&W overtime you understand what you are shooting and why it is not colour and should not be colour converted big difference when you get into it. What is pushing me back to film the B&W . I will not be doing a dark room but more than likely and Epson V7000 or a used V7500.

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I can see the point you are making but can't work out the linguistics. My camera will give a better dynamic range in RAW to Jpeg so to take any picture which I want as a Black and White I would select RAW to get range. However I can see no way to take Black and White RAW images? Once taken I can in camera convert to a Black and White or Sepia image in Jpeg to see how it would look but I don't have ability to take RAW images in Black and White. And since the whole idea of RAW is to store all information can't see any cameras allowing RAW in Black and White.

It has been pointed out to me there is a difference between Black and White and desaturate it that with former one can select the sensitivity for each colour. This function is not available in my camera as far as I know? In camera all I can do is select B&W.

With a wet process I would use B&W film but with digital you would need a B&W CCD to do the same thing. Closest would be Fuji's SuperCCD S3 Pro with the extra dynamic range but that's still colour. I can find movie cameras that are B&W so CCD's must be made but can't find any B&W D-SLR's?

Personally I would not buy a Black & White camera but I can still the the advantage with more ppi recorded.

So are there any D-SLR's with B&W CCD's? And do any D-SLR's which also work in colour take RAW images in B&W?

Out of interest while looking to see if one can buy B&W cameras I came across this Why In-camera Black and White is a Bad Idea - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light reading the foot note is interesting and I can see what Reader RN says makes sense.