59
votes
Why is software-based manipulation of images frowned upon while hardware-based manipulation is acceptable?
Why are hardware-based manipulations, like black and white photography (traditionally using black-and-white film), long exposure, etc., which also result in an "unnatural" image, acceptable while ...
- 140k
43
votes
Accepted
Should I shoot color or black and white 35mm film to learn photography fundamentals?
If your goal is to practice composition and work with shadows and lighting cheaply and efficiently, then you should shoot digital, not film. You will get more immediate results, and the ability to ...
- 31k
36
votes
Why is the cost of film going up so fast?
The sale price of film is going up because of “economy of scale”. In other words, the more you make of any particular article, the lower the cost to make that article. Digital imaging has overtaken ...
- 36.3k
31
votes
Why is 18% grey considered to be in the middle for photography?
The story goes that Ansel Adams came up with the "18% gray" figure. Back in the hay day of film photography he was developing the zone system and needed to define a "middle gray". It was a judgment ...
- 581
29
votes
Is there a black and white physical filter?
Pardon me while I get a little metaphysical for a bit. "Color" as we understand it isn't a real property of anything in the universe. It's something created by our vision system — a complicated ...
- 140k
26
votes
How does Renato D'Agostin achieve these super minimalist and high-contrast photos?
Upon viewing his portfolio at the link you provided, my first thought was push processing. In push processing, one typically underexposes the shot (that is, meters and set exposure as if the the film ...
- 31k
22
votes
Accepted
How do I achieve this creamy black and white look?
If you want to achieve this digitally note how the whites aren't full white and the blacks aren't full black.
You can do that e.g. in Lightroom or any other editing tool by pulling the endpoints for ...
- 336
21
votes
Why is software-based manipulation of images frowned upon while hardware-based manipulation is acceptable?
Is it frowned upon? Photography has always made use of whatever technology was available, whether in the camera, the darkroom or, now, the computer.
It's a long time since other forms of art were ...
- 1,620
20
votes
Accepted
Is there any point in photographing directly to black & white?
Yes, if you shoot RAW. If you have difficulty visualizing an image in B&W, shooting in B&W gives you a good approximation of the final image at the time of shooting so you can adjust; many ...
- 49.2k
20
votes
Why is 18% grey considered to be in the middle for photography?
It's worth looking at a gamma chart for additional perspective as you think about this. Standard display gamma, for example, is 2.2. The curve looks like this:
50% grey, in an 8-bit space, is 127 (...
- 611
20
votes
Can I develop my b&w film a year after shooting it?
Ilford Delta is a pretty common film. I am certain you will be able to find a reputable lab to develop it somewhere around (you do not mention where exactly in Germany are you spending your year).
On ...
- 5,900
19
votes
Accepted
Is there a black and white physical filter?
No.
It is not possible to create a physical filter that can completely "De-saturate" incoming light.
The only way to achieve this without post-processing is at the film / sensor level.
- 8,920
18
votes
Accepted
Is there a lossy compressed file format for 16-bit dynamic range images?
It sounds like what you're looking for is JPEG2000. It has a range of options including a 16-bit lossy compression and better compression ratios than JPEG. It hasn't been as widely adopted as hoped (...
- 9,440
18
votes
Can I do "back conversion" of a B&W JPEG to color?
If this image were RAW, the color would still be there. But since it is JPEG, I'm afraid not. The fact that the image is in RGB format does not help, because I'd you look, you will find that in fact ...
- 140k
16
votes
Why is analog black&white film slightly violet?
Its been a very long time, but I believe this is caused by inadequate rinsing of the negative during processing. The film has a coating to reduce light reflecting from the film backing itself. It is ...
- 14.3k
16
votes
Accepted
Why is the cost of film going up so fast?
Here’s Fuji’s annual report: https://www.fujifilmholdings.com/en/pdf/investors/integrated_report/ff_ir_2018_all.pdf
The page you want is page 48.
What you should notice is that photo imaging made ...
- 20.3k
15
votes
Accepted
Is it better for a beginner to start with black and white photography?
Traditionally a price factor, but not anymore.
The idea that you should shoot only black and white as a beginning "serious" photographer is both highly subjective and highly restrictive, especially ...
- 326
15
votes
Is there any point in photographing directly to black & white?
Long exposure astrophotography is often done with a monochrome sensor to maximize the number of photons captured from a faint source. Relatively short exposures with separate Red, Green, and Blue ...
15
votes
Is there a black and white physical filter?
All color is a result of software processing. The only thing a sensor, be it film or semiconductor, can do is change state in response to incoming photons. Yes, a digital camera has color filters, ...
- 1,847
14
votes
Should I go digital or analog for B/W on a budget?
For the budget? Go digital, but don't worry about those monochrome sensors. Sure, they're strictly better in terms of per-pixel awesomeness, but even entry-level DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have high ...
- 140k
14
votes
Which color filter do I use for a black & white portrait?
There is a really important diference if you are using film or is a digital photo. I will focus on Digital aspects but will give you an idea of what to expect with film.
The method I am using is ...
- 20.8k
14
votes
Accepted
What colour scheme for model aircraft should I use to give a realistic black and white film photo?
I would not worry overmuch about the color schemes.
Two reasons:
the emulsions you mention (Bergger and HP5+) are panchromatic, in both cases with rather decent color rendition
your scenes will ...
- 5,900
13
votes
Accepted
Do old sepia photographs fade to neutral gray, or is something else going on here?
It's something else.
Your photograph appears to be split toned. That simply means that the image wasn't completely bleached out before the sepia toning was done; a pale, low-density silver print, ...
- 784
13
votes
Accepted
Home B&W developing - very dark areas gone white
For me this looks like pseudo-solarisation. Also known as Sabattier effect. This can happen when film or photo paper are exposed to light after the start of development. It can be counted as artistic ...
- 9,455
12
votes
Is there a black and white physical filter?
You can't add a physical filter, but you can remove a physical filter to convert any digital camera to a strictly monochrome camera.
The actual sensor on any DSLR knows nothing about color - each ...
- 853
12
votes
Accepted
Why is software-based manipulation of images frowned upon while hardware-based manipulation is acceptable?
Why are hardware-based manipulations, like black and white photography (traditionally using black-and-white film), long exposure, etc., which also result in an "unnatural" image, acceptable while ...
- 2,040
11
votes
Accepted
How does Renato D'Agostin achieve these super minimalist and high-contrast photos?
Hello this is Renato D’Agostin. By chance I found myself on this blog, and found curious and flattering to read comments about my photography. I thought it could be nice to comment myself. Regarding ...
- 126
10
votes
Accepted
What ISO do I shoot Ilford Delta 3200 in?
Shorter version:
Expose it as 3200 and shoot normally. Develop according to the instructions and make sure you use the correct development time for 3200.
Longer version:
Delta 3200 is not an ISO ...
- 5,115
10
votes
Accepted
What causes this strange Posterization when changing to B&W?
The image has some highlights where there is some blue mixed in, where there is otherwise only information in the red and green channels. It's those highlights that doesn't balance well when you ...
- 20.8k
10
votes
Accepted
Which file format is recommended for black and white photographs?
Shoot in RAW, and export on whatever format you like. JPEG for example.
For print it can be on TIFF. And you could export at grayscale at 16 bits. But that is only for specialized usage. For most ...
- 20.8k
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