Do You Like Landscape Photography and if so Color or B&W

[naturephoto1]

As one of the mainstay and oldest forms of art, do you like Landscape Photography. If you do, do you prefer color, B&W, or both?

Rich

 

[Travis Nunn]

I enjoy landscape photography. I don't have a preference of one over the other, I think some situations benefit from b/w and some benefit from color.

 

[donbga]

As one of the mainstay and oldest forms of art, do you like Landscape Photography. If you do, do you prefer color, B&W, or both?

Rich

I always prefer B&W, for several reasons.

 

[colrehogan]

I enjoy landscape photography. I tend to do mostly b/w, but I like to do color too.

 

[Jim Chinn]

I enjoy, both but I would say I lean more towards B&W at this moment in time.

 

[Eric Leppanen]

I do a lot of landscape photography, shooting both color and B&W depending on the subject.

 

[resummerfield]

I do mostly landscape photography, but only in B&W. I've never even considered color.

 

[Robert Hall]

I have gone back and forth through my life with color and black and white. We have some of the best in the world here that shoot color. Color is beautiful and for those who see in color, my hat's off to them.

I shoot black and white because of the expressiveness of what I can do with the materials. Black and white is a generous process that has many facets. It can take a weekend or a lifetime to see the variations possible with one image.

A good friend of mine says we are the caretakers of the images we create or capture. It is up to us to show that image with the respect they are due. This can only be done by the finest craftsmanship and diligence. This is what I love about black and white; this is why I choose it as my medium.

 

[naturephoto1]

I have gone back and forth through my life with color and black and white. We have some of the best in the world here that shoot color. Color is beautiful and for those who see in color, my hat's off to them.

I shoot black and white because of the expressiveness of what I can do with the materials. Black and white is a generous process that has many facets. It can take a weekend or a lifetime to see the variations possible with one image.

A good friend of mine says we are the caretakers of the images we create or capture. It is up to us to show that image with the respect they are due. This can only be done by the finest craftsmanship and diligence. This is what I love about black and white; this is why I choose it as my medium.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the in depth response. I was hoping that others would make some comment beyond I like color, or I like B&W, or I like or use both. Maybe others will take your lead and provide a bit more incite as to what they shoot, like or shoot, and still mention (if they do) that they appreciate the other medium as you so eloquently presented.

Rich

 

[Curt]

I prefer BW and I like Color but it has too be the highest quality. Dye Transfer is the best.

 

[André E.C.]

I do like landscape photography in B&W obviously, is there something else besides monochrome?


Cheers


André

 

[David Lingham]

I prefer B&W landscape because of the interpretation that it allows. Robert Hall summed it up in an earlier post, with the word "expressiveness".

 

[Ole]

I do both, because both have their place.

I prefer B&W when I mean to show Dead Link Removed as here, and colour when that is an integral part of the scene Dead Link Removed

One is not "better" than the other, they are both good for very different reasons.

 

[Steve Smith]

I usually think I prefer black and white as that is what I usually use and all that I print myself. However, every time I get a roll of Velvia back from the lab, I think that I prefer colour and that I should try to print Ilforchrome. My thoughts soon drift back to black and white though.

Steve.

 

[donbga]

As one of the mainstay and oldest forms of art, do you like Landscape Photography. If you do, do you prefer color, B&W, or both?

Rich

So may we presume that this informal poll will benefit the APUG community?

 

[scootermm]

Experimenting and expressing myself creatively started with color. Putting colored acrylics on panels and canvas. When I see a painting in my head theres vibrant colors, how people interact with the world they exist in, more often than not the subject is a woman, but thats just my own biase. But how this woman interacts with the world seems natural to express in color. There interaction in placing colors together, or overlapping, or blending, or clashing. It seems to communicate what is in my head.

Naturally I experimented with color when I started photography because of my great interest in it with painting. I honestly felt cliche whenever I would get my slides back. I felt no connection with seeing and interpretting the world I observed so literally through color film. I already see vibrant colors when I look around, there wasnt an inherent challenge to somewhat change the way I saw things. That challenge seemed apparent with B&W. It forced me to see the world differently. It was no longer about just capturing an instant and duplicating it, but expressing. Thats what draws me to most things, the challenge to learn a new way of seeing things, or learning a new way of experiencing. I never felt that with color photography, but felt it immediately with black and white.
Interestingly enough, I feel a slight connection to painting when I do Gum Layers over palladium prints. That sense of color and its expressiveness being combined with my fascination with monotone imagery.

Now whether or not its in the landscape category or not Im not sure.

 

[naturephoto1]

So may we presume that this informal poll will benefit the APUG community?

Hi Don,

I hadn't really considered this a poll, informal or not. I was trying to get people to participate and say something about their likes. This has been a major area of art and photography is no exception. We see landscape images everywhere, we discuss landscape images and photographers in our own threads. We even display them in our own APUG Gallery.

Rich

 

[matt miller]

As far as landscapes go, I have equal affections for both b&w and color. I prefer color when color is the subject. The amazing skies at sunrise and sunset, the warm light that seems to make the land glow, lush green forests & valleys, autumn leaves; none of these would have the same impact in b&w. When color is not my subject, I prefer black and white.

 

[Gerald Koch]

Some one associated with photography (can't remember who just now) once remarked that the subject of a color photograph is the color itself. This was a polite way of saying that color often gets in the way. This why I shoot mostly B&W.

 

[tim atherton]

Some one associated with photography (can't remember who just now) once remarked that the subject of a color photograph is the color itself. This was a polite way of saying that color often gets in the way. This why I shoot mostly B&W.

or conversely, it's actually much harder to do well and there are few photographers able to do this successfully

 

[davetravis]

I like where this is going.
My early "landscapes," (crap mostly), were all done in B&W. From shooting, to final print it was fast and fun to do. Then I discovered Kodachrome. Then I discovered Agfachrome. Then I discovered Fujichrome. Then I discovered Ilfochrome. I use color only as the final suggestion of what I'm trying to express. If the image doesn't already have all of the other elements that satisfy my curiosity, I won't print it. Great color or not. To me the color, however rich and brilliant, is secondary to the quality of the photograph, and mostly puts a "finishing touch" upon the subject matter.

 

[df cardwell]

Yes, I like landscape photography.

I have come to despise the genre that suggests Man is vile and fallen
and should not be portrayed in nature. I am most interested in scenes that illustrate a harmony of Man in Nature. After years in the Rockies, I prefer - infinitely - an apple orchard. Or a pasture.

As for medium, I simply use what will express my feelings and the data for that image. 80% of the time, it's B&W. Obviously, when all the world becomes gray, usually color conveys the emotion when B&W would fail. It is NOT dogmatic, nor ideological for me. It's all about the image.

Here's a 'fall color' shot of a wonderful scene I look forward to every year. It will never work in B&W, it depends completely upon Color. And FLASH !

Perhaps we can have a 'landscape workshop' here sometime. But everyone would have to love celtic music.

 

[DBP]

The types of landscapes I tend to prefer to look at look better in color, except in winter. Cityscapes, on the other hand, look better to me in black and white, or increasingly blue or brown and white. Some woodland scenes work well for me in black and white, but I tend not to think of those as landscapes.

 

[mark]

Landscape is just about all I shoot. As for BW vs. Color it depends on the mood I am in, and the situation.

If shooting in color I tend to have a very narrow field of view. I don't like wide angle color landscape photographs. I do like wide angle BW landscape photographs.

Why? I honestly have no idea. I think the color intimate landscape is just that, personal, a feeling of moment and place. I don't get that feeling with wide angle sweeping grand landscapes in color. In BW I do not feel this way at all. I think the Grand Landscape is best rendered in BW. Just a preference I guess.

 

[naturephoto1]

I am strictly a color photographer and as such shoot only color landscape photographs (and is a major portion of my photographic work). I see the world in color. As others have indicated to take a successful color photograph and in this case color landscapes it is often more difficult than in B&W. For much of my color landscape work, and what is frequently most striking or most successful relies on color as the (or at least a) major subject (or element) or color that adds an important added benefit to the image. I can certainly appreciate excellent B&W work as well and seeing such fine work in our galleries and elsewhere does give me reason to attempt this medium again. In fact, there are times that I am out and taking landscape images that I recognize that the conditions would be much more ideal for B&W than for color.

Rich