Seeing in black and white - Eileen Rafferty

Elines

Elines

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This you tube video is a must for anyone producing black and white images.

Even though it is nearly two hours long it is worth every minute you spend on it. Eileen Rafferty comes across as an expert teacher with great examples to support the points she makes.

She gives the best articulation of why you might choose black and white instead of colour that I have seen.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Hh8S-Z68s
 
Screenshot: "Tones are related to levels of brightness".

Bloody hell, I'd never have guessed that!

And the video's nearly 2 hrs long? Ain't it a bit ... American?
 
Years ago you could buy something called a panview filter (if I remember rightly) this was a sort of dark mauve colour glass thing, you looked through it to get an idea of how an image would look in B+W (it wasn't used on camera). These days it's easier. Switch the camera to B+W and set it to RAW and jpeg, you get a B+W jpeg and a colour raw that means you have the option of a colour shot or making a better B+W in photoshop/LR later.
 
droj said:
Screenshot: "Tones are related to levels of brightness".

Bloody hell, I'd never have guessed that!

And the video's nearly 2 hrs long? Ain't it a bit ... American?
Click to expand...

Isn't it terrible thing to start with first principles.....!
 
Thanks both for responding.

Rog - I'm pleased for you if what you are saying is that you already knew everything she says.

As regards, "Ain't it a bit ... American?" ....I'm not quite sure what you are saying. Certainly she is American and speaks with an American accent but the lecture (in my view) is well organised and evidenced and she shows good practice; eg repeating a question to be sure that all members of the audience know what it is before answering. And there is no whooping, hollering or high-fives.

Wayne ... Never heard of that filter so thanks for that. The only equivalent that I had heard of was to squint/half close your eyes to help remove detail and make it easier to see (eg) tones/light/dark.

For me, the video goes far beyond 'mere' seeing in black and white and includes - as I indicated in my OP - a clear view on why you might CHOOSE to produce an image in black and white depending on what sort of reaction you wanted to create/prompt in the viewer.
 
Having spent many years shooting B+W I know what works and what doesn't work without having to think about it anymore. I'm sure the video might be useful to some people, but personally I found it padded out and a bit slow, and the number of times she says "ok" and "right" really caught my attention (and got on my nerves).
 
Thanks Wayne.

I have about two years of producing black and white so that might explain why I found a lot of good stuff in it.

I didn't notice any over-use of particular words - maybe because i watched it in 10 - 20 minute chunks. I guess 'ok' and 'right' are the equivalent of the UK over-use of 'Basically' that you can often hear on radio and TV:)
 
Elines said:
Thanks Wayne.

I have about two years of producing black and white so that might explain why I found a lot of good stuff in it.

I didn't notice any over-use of particular words - maybe because i watched it in 10 - 20 minute chunks. I guess 'ok' and 'right' are the equivalent of the UK over-use of 'Basically' that you can often hear on radio and TV:)
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No worries Elines, thanks for sharing the link mate.
Regards Wayne
 
Had to look twice as I know an Eileen Rafferty who's a student with the OCA. Similar website URL's only hers has a hyphon
 
Another one of those videos,bit arty fartty you not a real photographer unless you shoot B/W,their are great photos in B/W and great one in color,it's as simple as that.

(n)
 
Thanks for commenting Simon.

I like to think that my arty farty antennae are well and finely tuned, but they didn't twitch when I was watching this video.

For me it contained loads of useful information and little if any arty fatty stuff.

As regards colour, I don't think that at any point she says there are no good colour images. She seemed at pains - to me - to say it all depended on what you wanted to do with an image

Her emphasis on black and white is natural as that was the subject of her presentation. My guess is that in others she may well concentrate on colour, and in yet others on them equally.
 
Elines said:
Thanks for commenting Simon.

I like to think that my arty farty antennae are well and finely tuned, but they didn't twitch when I was watching this video.

For me it contained loads of useful information and little if any arty fatty stuff.

As regards colour, I don't think that at any point she says there are no good colour images. She seemed at pains - to me - to say it all depended on what you wanted to do with an image

Her emphasis on black and white is natural as that was the subject of her presentation. My guess is that in others she may well concentrate on colour, and in yet others on them equally.
Click to expand...

I have only watched parts so far, but she definitely states that some pictures are simply no good in black and white and are best suited in colour.
 
I've seen several of her videos and really enjoy watching her. Don't care if she says 'ok' or 'right' a lot; don't care if some find it 'arty farty'; don't care if it's 2 hours long and a bit 'American'.

I've watched most of it and will be watching it again.

Cheers.
 
Thanks for commenting Phil and Andy.

I also will be looking for any other of her videos that are relevant for me. Unfortunately as I don't have Photoshop or lightroom ( I have pse11 and nik) I suspect there may not be many:(
 
Elines said:
Thanks for commenting Simon.

I like to think that my arty farty antennae are well and finely tuned, but they didn't twitch when I was watching this video.

For me it contained loads of useful information and little if any arty fatty stuff.

As regards colour, I don't think that at any point she says there are no good colour images. She seemed at pains - to me - to say it all depended on what you wanted to do with an image

Her emphasis on black and white is natural as that was the subject of her presentation. My guess is that in others she may well concentrate on colour, and in yet others on them equally.
Click to expand...

To be fair i don't watch many video of this type just not my thing,much rather be out with my camera :)
 
Elines said:
Thanks for commenting Phil and Andy.

I also will be looking for any other of her videos that are relevant for me. Unfortunately as I don't have Photoshop or lightroom ( I have pse11 and nik) I suspect there may not be many:(
Click to expand...

There are plenty where some rarely mentions post processing (y)

simonblue said:
To be fair i don't watch many video of this type just not my thing,much rather be out with my camera :)
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I watch wilst ironing :)
 
Andy - thanks for the info on ER videos -I'll look forward to watching them

? Any in particular that you found helpful?

Simon - I find that watching videos is a good way of getting ideas for when I am photographing - especially for still life, which is something I want to get back into.
 
Thanks to you too Andy for the links to suggested ER videos - they all look to be of interest.
 
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