I've dedicated myself to taking B&W photo's for the remainder of the year. The upcoming challenge "Color on Color IV" poses and interesting question. After reading a few articales on the Internet, this one stands out.
Are Black & White Colors?
Is Black a Color? Is White a Color?
The answer to the question - "Are black and white colors?" - is one of the most debated issues about color. Ask a scientist and you'll get a reply based on physics: “Black is not a color, white is a color.” Ask an artist or a child with crayons and you'll get another: “Black is a color, white is not a color.” (Maybe!)
I would say yes. However, I'd also say make sure you take a black on black or a white on white. If you take a picture of an apple on a grey background, change it to b&w and say it's now grey on grey, it probably won't go over well. :)
Unfortunately DNMCs will be very likely. Not many voters read scientific explanations nor these forums. A careful analysis of previous challenges points to the need for the highly technical studio shots, water splashes in particular, if one would like to be in Top 10.
you need to limit to a specific wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum or else its DNMC!
I had originally shot a black on black last night, than the physicist inside immediately thought of that and I scraped it. After a decade in university, I knew my physics degree would come in handy for something.
Personally, I think the spirit of the challenge is that the subject and the background need to be sort of the same, regardless of whether technically speaking that "same" actually is or isn't a colour.
However, you WILL get remarks such as "absence of colour", so be ready for those.
black is absorption of all color, white is reflection of all colors.
I was taught that in light, things look white when all the colors are present, in painting things look black when all the colors are present.
yes pigments and electromagnetic radiation aren't quite the same. in the end its those light rays that get reflected to your eyes, so black is absorbing all the colors of light, white is reflecting them all.
but in all seriousness, black on black and white on white would be fine with me.
Am having a play for this challenge and have discounted black and white (just in case) however, how close does the subject and background have to be in order to be classed as the same colour? If they were the same colour then you'd not see the subject and was wondering if the 'shades' are not close enough they'd get the same scores as black or white?
Am having a play for this challenge and have discounted black and white (just in case) however, how close does the subject and background have to be in order to be classed as the same colour? If they were the same colour then you'd not see the subject and was wondering if the 'shades' are not close enough they'd get the same scores as black or white?
i'd suggest you peruse the previous challenges like this one... there are some where it is "blender __________" and some where there are differences between subject and background.
plus, not a lot of pp tweaking allowed this time with Basic Editing.
the way the lighting is arranged could potentially make a subject of the ' exact ' same color as the background quite visible.
Originally posted by Ecce Signum:
Am having a play for this challenge and have discounted black and white (just in case) however, how close does the subject and background have to be in order to be classed as the same colour? If they were the same colour then you'd not see the subject and was wondering if the 'shades' are not close enough they'd get the same scores as black or white?
edit: to stay on topic, personally i wouldn't enter a B&W image in this challenge. mainly because black on black, and white on white already have representation as a repeated theme.
