hey /p/
Why do B/W pictures look good with high contrast when compared with color pics with same high contrast?
I've always guessed that is was to do with no saturation (color contrast) being able to balance with high contrast.
Would appreciate any theories or color freaks explaining this.
Posting desktop screen shot of some pipes I saw because I can't be fucked resizing.
>>2712029
color high contrast does look awesome, what are you talking about.
>>2712029
>>2712030
ie. mccurry. slide film is capable of rendering some stunning high contrast color photo.
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>>2712031
I like this.
But I find when ever I edit, if its in b&w I increase the contrast, if I revert to color the contrast is way too high even if I spend forever adjusting WB, tint etc.
Because low contrast black and white is just a pile of grey.
Color photos look like real life so when they are super overcooked with ridiculous unrealistic contrast you are more inclined to reject them because they don't look like what you know they should look like. Black and white is already an abstraction and is obviously not a representation of the real world so you are more willing to accept a lot more manipulation and processing because you know it's just a photo and it isn't meant to depict a real scene.
That's my theory, anyway. I also think that's sort of why people are more willing to accept a noisy black and white photo rather than a noisy color photo, although that's also partly because converting to black and white will reduce the noise anyway since it removes color noise and leaves only luminosity noise.
>>2712033
whatever weird behavior does your digital processing program is due to you poor skills, and it has nothing to do with color or b&w photo.
so digital photo looks shit when pushed to its limits? news at 11.
>>2712037
So what should I do that would make color look nice.
I can make my color images high in contrast but not as high as my B&W.
I am pretty new to editing, only used Lightroom and UFRaw for a couple months now.
>>2712036
This is probably my favorite theory so far
This pic is probably the highest I would push the contrast in a color image.
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too lazy to resize
its 333 am give me a break
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Here's another photo.
I've edited them how I like and the B&W one just looks better with higher contrast.
I don't necessarily want the color one to have higher contrast I've just always wondered why B&W looks better in high contrast situations or pushing contrast in post.
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>>2712067
Nice photo.
Literally nothing wrong with it, looks nice B&W.
colour contrast and tonal contrast are different
a question, cause I don't know;
in LR, does adjusting contrast have a different effect to changing blacks and/or whites?
>>2712071
>colour contrast and tonal contrast are different
Thanks for clarifying that, will Google.
Don't know about the Lightroom thing unfortunately.
>>2712072
I was trying to articulate further but I am a potato
when you convert to b&w and adjust contrast, you're using it to adjust the tonal contrast, when you go back to colour its also affecting the colour contrast
I would imagine that you could leave the contrast slider alone and instead adjust the highlights/shadows and/or blacks/whites without having any affect on the colour contrast once you go back to colour, I just don't know if black/white adjustment has effect on colour (and can't test for myself atm)
>>2712045
Well for a start you've blown colour channels all over the shop on that photo.
You need a lot more theory and practice. No, no-one is going to spoon feed you.
>>2712033
This is not how you do it.
In B&W, there is only one histogram: Luminance. It shows how many pixels are at any given level of brightness from 0 to 255.
When you add a B&W filter, you basically "flatten" the colors like you can "flatten" the layers in Photoshop. When there are equal amounts of each color, red, green, and blue, you get gray.
As you can see with the "Black & White" image adjustment or adjustment layer in Photoshop, there are different ways of converting to B&W, but in the end they all just change the histogram levels and make the color channels equal so that you see gray.
To get good high-contrast color shots, you need to learn to manage three channels of color. There is a histogram for each. Each can be considered a black and white image that just contains info about how much "luminance" each channel should have. Each can be edited with contrast, sharpness, even Adobe Camera RAW can be used on channels. You need to make your changes skillfully so that the color balance or white balance you want is not fucked up, but this is how to go about it.
In short, editing color is more than just going Brightness/Contrast.
>>2712045 is a great example of how not to do it because the red channel is MASSIVELY overexposed. If you look at the red channel as a black and white image, those guys' jackets and the red traffic cone are both pure white, 100% blank.
(Don't try capturing high-contast color in your camera. The camera captures the RAW stuff and does its own retarded photoshopping after, and then you get bad results in most cases. You need to do this on your own.)
>>2712069
wut
fixed it for you
>>2712124
Thanks for this explanation, very useful information.
I shoot RAW nearly 100% of the time which should help with what you said in the last line.
Tbh I've never paid any attention to the RGB histogram but I will now.
>>2712130
Now it looks like Superia. Not accurate colours
>>2712130
Any specifics on what you did would be useful.
Like what you've done.
>>2712130
What is it with kids these days insisting on having zero detail in the blacks?
>>2712029
what's so wrong with color?
>>2712133
I increased contrasts on each specific channel while keeping the histogram mean value the same. Yes, I also changed the balance between them because I didn't like the white balance. I took a shortcut and used a vibrance adjustment later, but if I had kept the sepia look either layer masks or areal changes of each channel would have been better. Didn't want to spend the time. All in Photoshop.
>>2712158
Thanks
wow. i never read so much shit like in this thread.
obviously none of you has the slightest clue about what they are talking. "colour contrast" ... if i even hear things like that. "In B&W there is only one histogram" ... dat shittalk. ... i'll resist to quote the whole thread
OP - due to being an amateur - asked the question in a wrong way, but the question is actually quite essential. This is because it is related to information reduction. Eventually in your life you will realise that every form of art is related to the process of reducing and sorting information. I won't explain that whole thing to you now. But photographs with relative colour information and without are a good illustration of that. OP felt that gradial pictures need a different way to reduce information than relative. This is mainly correct. Or better: relative photographs need different ways to reduce information than gradial. The main reason for this is, that the more information there is, the harder it is to reduce and sort. While gradial pictures can processed by transposing redundant information in the extreme areas of the dynamic range, this process is unsufficient for relative. And why? Because relative information can not be solved by absolute mounting.
Well .. this might be a little bit complicated if you are on the niveau of "B&W has just one histogram", but maybe the one or other gets an intend to start making some own thoughts in the right direction.
no smartass tho
>>2712160
>bs philosophy major detected
>adds shit to a shit thread
>>2712070
Thanks mate!
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>>2712160
woah, someone thinks they are a lot smarter than they are
b l a c k v a l u e
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>>2712160
your text doesn't quite flow so well when you're trying to reword stuff you're reading from wikipedia pages and books, does it?
>>2712160
lmfao who do you think you are?
>>2712326
Kek
>>2712160
>I won't explain that whole thing to you now.
Because you can't find a webpage to copy it from.
>>2712244
Good composition in this one as well as the other.
Heres another B&W, what does /p/ think (C&C).
I really like this image but probably only because its my dog, is this photo actually good?
I did set up the comp, purposely had the light the way it is so its a step above a random snapshit, but C&C would be helpful.
Complete noob btw thanks.
>>2712447
I like buildings
This maybe?
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