COLOR Non-Photography

Why not black and white?

The wonderful world of black-and-white images seems to be more artistic than the colorful environment in which we actually live. In fact, when colors are left out of the picture, viewing the shapes around us as a range of tones, shades, and highlights in stark black and white makes our lives appear far more dramatic.

Black and white tracks

Same tracks in color

Then why tackle the hassle of working with colors? Because creating color photographs presents a great challenge! And the challenge isn't merely that we usually want to capture the correct colors or that it's difficult to predict the colors that will appear on color film (not necessarily the colors that are perceived by the human eye), but the challenge is to make an interesting color photograph. Difficult? Yes--but not impossible.

The non-photographer is a hunter of challenges.

Should we get technical?

Probably not. All we need to know about colors is that the human eye can sense only the three primary colors (blue, green and red), and we see other colors only as a mixture of these three.

Sometimes color photographs have unexpected results. That happens mainly because the eye tends to ignore small differences in colors, but film records them "as is." Sometimes film will even capture an unplanned addition from a nearby color we chose not to notice.

What are we going to do with this information?

We are definitely not going to hurry to the nearest camera store to get filters for color balancing. We will use other ways to find our way around any difficulty. For example:

1. You can always try to use the right film for you, meaning that different films are balanced for different light situations. For instance, using a tungsten-balanced film for indoors is more likely to get rid of the reddish appearance of the photograph.

2.  It will be really nice if you pay more attention to colors. The colors of pictures taken in full midday sunlight tend to be washed-out and flat. Therefore, in case you want more vibrant and lively-looking colors, you might want to put your camera to work for an hour or so after sunrise. Or, if you're like me and don't wish to wake up the birds, both you and your camera can enjoy sunset, instead.

This time restriction is very limiting, so in order to prevent any resentment read again #1 suggestion or just take your shots in shady areas.

Some colors cannot be ignored 

Continued to the right

Non-photographer #2

Non-photographer #3

Next time: The joy of the darkroom (and the digital darkroom).  

Do you really care about correct colors?

As long as the photograph's color is not the purpose, the non-photographer doesn't bother with correct colors. In fact, at times, the non-photographer is eager to shift colors.

This is when 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 the same effect is to use a long exposure. This trick does a great job with color shifting. (We'll skip the technical reason for that for the moment.)

Long exposure produces color shifts

 

If you have access to a color lab where you can do your own printing, you can just forget about long exposures and get any color your heart desires.

Now what?

Now it's time to put all this information about colors somewhere in the back of your mind. Yes, forget all about it. Just get out for some fun picture-making.

As mentioned before, it's pretty tricky to create an interesting color photograph--especially when color is not the issue. So, what are we going to do?

First of all, don't panic. You can always get away with making sunset photos that inevitably earn an "ah, how lovely!" reaction. Following the same idea, you can also try making postcard-like photographs. (However, this practice tends to become really boring at some point.)

* * *

An interesting photograph is likely to be one that says something. During my limited experience with making non-photos, I've learned that people always have a lot to say.

A mixture of both sunset and
a postcard-like photograph will do for a while

 

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 choosing to make night photos. These pictures have a special quality about them and can keep the viewer busy trying to figure out what's going on there in the dark.

Last words

So, what have we learned? It's possible to make interesting color photographs while on the move by taking advantage of whatever is out there.