This was a fascinating exercise. I was quite surprised at myself in some of my reactions... like the lotus photograph. The B&W felt more powerful but also more serene to me. Like the power of peace. The image with the power lines, that one felt more stirring in the color version. I felt more there as opposed to simply seeing it on a screen. Speaking of being there, I wish I lived closer as I would love to visit Cole's studio. I bet that would be such a lovely experience. Thank you both for doing what you're doing. You are making people think. And I see now that you are up to 1.06 subscribers. That's all me, ya know, because I've told every photographer I know about your channel. ha ha ha!
i would love to come to Cole’s House to see that, what a presentation that would be. I have a friend who does that here but with other art paintings, pottery etc. I’ve often thought about doing that too. On the question of colour versus black and white - well i’m with Cole all the way , while the colour is nice , and a literal interpretation of the scene , the black and white is haunting, and an isolated stillness, i find it hard to articulate really
I know some of those trees! Thanks for sharing John. In all these examples I agree with Cole and prefer the Black and White. They are more impactful to me personally. Some people, of course, will still prefer the color. My wife always prefers the color versions to the black and white versions I love. We are all different and like Cole said, this is such a great thing, especially in art! The vast majority of my work is in color however, while working on the PDF book you two are holding (FORCING) me to produce, I decided the last part of the book would be black and white. I should call it an "Ode to Cole".
For one thing, on many of the images the contrast is really bumped up on the B and w which strengthens the image. Still love the color on most of them. But I can see where u are coming from.
I quite often love an image of mine in both colour and B&W, but usually for very different reasons. They certainly do feel very different. Sometimes, with a particularly vibrant subject (such as a brightly coloured and extraordinarily vibrant flower) it feel somehow disrespectful to my subject to strip it of the very thing that has made it so glorious. It feels almost as though I am being "abusive" to my subject. In human vision colour is extremely perceptually important, but it is precisely because it is perceptually important that stripping an image of colour can be so powerful. As John suggests, we can reveal so much by taking away colour.
Might I ask, John, if those monochrome shots are simply de-saturated version of the originals, or was there a different touch on the sliders to produce the black & whites? Like, were all the other sliders identical; the only difference being the black & white conversion?
What a great ten minutes or so. Totally absorbing 🍻
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for tuning in.
This was a fascinating exercise. I was quite surprised at myself in some of my reactions... like the lotus photograph. The B&W felt more powerful but also more serene to me. Like the power of peace. The image with the power lines, that one felt more stirring in the color version. I felt more there as opposed to simply seeing it on a screen. Speaking of being there, I wish I lived closer as I would love to visit Cole's studio. I bet that would be such a lovely experience. Thank you both for doing what you're doing. You are making people think. And I see now that you are up to 1.06 subscribers. That's all me, ya know, because I've told every photographer I know about your channel. ha ha ha!
i would love to come to Cole’s House to see that, what a presentation that would be. I have a friend who does that here but with other art paintings, pottery etc. I’ve often thought about doing that too. On the question of colour versus black and white - well i’m with Cole all the way , while the colour is nice , and a literal interpretation of the scene , the black and white is haunting, and an isolated stillness, i find it hard to articulate really
Black and white vs color can be “mapped” very differently. I can push tones in black and white much more than color images
I know some of those trees!
Thanks for sharing John. In all these examples I agree with Cole and prefer the Black and White. They are more impactful to me personally. Some people, of course, will still prefer the color.
My wife always prefers the color versions to the black and white versions I love. We are all different and like Cole said, this is such a great thing, especially in art!
The vast majority of my work is in color however, while working on the PDF book you two are holding (FORCING) me to produce, I decided the last part of the book would be black and white. I should call it an "Ode to Cole".
For one thing, on many of the images the contrast is really bumped up on the B and w which strengthens the image. Still love the color on most of them. But I can see where u are coming from.
I'd love to visit. Too far from Glasgow, Scotland though Cole. Will you do a virtual visit?
I quite often love an image of mine in both colour and B&W, but usually for very different reasons. They certainly do feel very different. Sometimes, with a particularly vibrant subject (such as a brightly coloured and extraordinarily vibrant flower) it feel somehow disrespectful to my subject to strip it of the very thing that has made it so glorious. It feels almost as though I am being "abusive" to my subject. In human vision colour is extremely perceptually important, but it is precisely because it is perceptually important that stripping an image of colour can be so powerful. As John suggests, we can reveal so much by taking away colour.
Might I ask, John, if those monochrome shots are simply de-saturated version of the originals, or was there a different touch on the sliders to produce the black & whites? Like, were all the other sliders identical; the only difference being the black & white conversion?
No, each color image was converted to B&W using my B&W workflow.