color non-photographywhy not black and white ? Exactly. The world according to the wonderful black & white images seems to have more of an artistic touch. And when colors are left out the picture, dealing with a range of tones and playing with shades and highlights, our black & white lives become much more d r a m a t i c.
Then why hassle with colors? Because making color photographs is a great challenge! And it's not just because we usually want to get the correct colors, or because it's difficult to predict the colors captured by the color film [ yes, these colors which are not seen by the human eye ], but actually because it is a challenge to make an interesting color photograph. Difficult ? yes. but not impossible. Oh yes, and lets not forget the non-photographer is a hunter for challenges. Should we get technical ? Probably not. All we need to know about colors is that the human eye can only sense the three primary colors [ blue, green and red ], and we only see other colors through a mixture of these 3 colors. Sometimes color photographs have unexpected results. That happens mainly because the eye tends to ignore the small differences in colors but the film records them "as is". And sometimes it will even capture an unplanned addition from a nearby color we chose not to notice.
So what are we going to do with this information ? We are definitely not going to hurry up to the nearest camera store to get filters for color balancing.
Do you really care about correct colors ? As long as the photograph's color is not the purpose, the non-photographer does not bother with correct colors. In fact, at times, the non-photographer is eager to shift the colors. This is when the use of cross processing can be very useful. Cross processing is simply about shooting any slide [ transparency ] film and processing it as C-41 [ negative film ]. Cross processing produces interesting and unexpected colors with lots more grain. Another way of achieving this effect is to use a long exposure. Often this one does a great job with color shifting [ and at the moment , we'll skip the technical reason for that ]. Long exposure produces color shifts  Now what? Now that we got all mixed up with colors its about time to put all this information somewhere in the back of our mind, yes, forget all about it, and just get out there for some fun picture making. As mentioned before it is pretty tricky to make an interesting color photograph especially when the color is not the issue. So what are we going to do about it? First of all, not to panic. One can always get away with making sunset photos. These ones always get the "ah, how lovely!" reaction. Following the same idea you can always try making postcard-like photographs. However, this practice tends to get really boring at some point.
An interesting photograph is more likely to be one which says something. During my very short experience with making non-photos I've learned that people always have a lot to say. And they "talk" much more when they are left in their natural surroundings. This is when people are at their best. Of course, if you ever have the urge to move them into another settings, maybe even put some extra light in their faces, feel free to do so, but don't expect them to say anything more than " is it over yet ? "
Another way of coming up with an interesting color photograph is making night photos. These kind of pictures have a special quality about them and can keep the viewer busy for a while [ trying to figure out what's going on there in the dark ] .
Last words So, what have we learned? Nothing much really, other than it is just possible to make interesting color photographs while on the move and taking advantage of whatever is already out there. |
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