I'd like to participate - might be more than one flash of red in my month! Feb is in a way a bad month for b&w so I shall have to run lots of colour in another album!!
I loved doing this last year and was thinking of doing it again this year. Great fun to do it together and wonderful to see other people's ideas.
Will there be a tag we can use to see all the pics together?
i intend doing it in concurrence with film february, assuming that will be going ahead as well, i like doing a whole month black and white. the themes were helpful at times, @olivetreeann are you planning any themes or book study this time? @peterdegraaff are you running a film february this year?
Well. Black and White is indeed favorite of mine, but to insist it is the ultimate, I am afraid I don't buy that. In a sense, color is much more "difficult" to pull off. In B&W you only have to worry about exposure differences, and you can, indeed, manipulate those, per the "color" and the grayscale mix in the original, that you can get a reasonable composition no matter what. With color, you have to compose with the color contrasts in mind, as well as the tonal contrast, as well as the composition within the frame, and you have much less leeway for post-adjustment, since the color as well as the tone need to be dealt with.
"Good" color is difficult. I claim the "adequate" B&W is comparatively easy, by contrast....
And indeed, I find "selective color" (the touch of red with all the rest monotone in this case) not the most effective either. It is, for me, more than a bit, gimmicky. I'm sure others might disagree, but I find the effect almost always a bit cheap.
@frankhymus good heavens - who said black and white is "the ultimate?" Not me - at least not recently... I'd be the first to tell you that I do black and white because I can't for the life of me get colour to look as I want it to... as for selective colouring - there are definitely some different perspectives - but it does kinda make the monthly view look cool :D
@northy Are you planning to run Flash of Red this year Northy? I was about to organize it, but if your heart is set on it, I don't mind passing the torch.
@kali66 Yes, I had planned to pick out an ebook this week. I've started one, I just want to make sure it has good themes for us to work with (always optional). I'll wait for Northy's response, and then get going if she'd like me to do it. And I'll collect everyone's @'s to notify them when/if I get it going.
Count me in! I love B&W and any tips welcome!! If I don't manage to get a photo every day can I put one in I have already taken so I could get some feedback?
@frankhymus I got tired just reading all the variables you listed LOL I can see your point, though. For me, Feb Flash of Red is a good chance to force myself to see photo opportunities in B&W. I'm sure there will be color in my Alternates album, though.
I'll do it. It is the one challenge that I normally manage to finish. I'm leaving internet contact tonight for a few weeks so I am not going to be able to use the book.
@mcsiegle Sorry to bore you with reality. :) Like I said, and I stand by it, B&W is actually pretty easy to render effectively with a good editor. Photoshop. Lightroom, DXO or Silver Efex from Nik. Many routes to take it when you only have to consider the greyscale mapping and (perhaps) exposure values but you can always subvert that with the greyscale mapping. It's color that is actually difficult to do well.
@northy@frankhymus For the life of me I can't, just cant do colour!! I do think though that to have a style of your own and to be creative in b and w isn't as simple as putting them in a good editor. Dont know about Northy but my edits are my own result and not just clicking a preset button. Hoping to join in!
I forget to read the challenges so looking forward to having a go at this - not done many b&w shots either so should also learn something too! Do we just download it as normal into our album?!
I'm not sure how many suitable subjects I'll actually be able to find, but this seems fun! I could really use some b&w practice so I'll give it a shot.
@newbank Color is hard, good composition and careful developing just two difficulties..
And no, I don't just click a preset to make B&W. That was actually my point, there are so many ways to render a B&W because you can map the underlying "colors" almost anyway you want into tonal values across the histogram. This "play" with the greyscale map is actually a very useful tool to help you begin to "see" B&W possibilities, if you find that troublesome, tonal variations that is, even if you don't use it in production developing.
B&W being "developed," too, tends to take sharpening, contrast variations (super high to super low), variations in white balance before you convert, and @northy and my pet effect, negative clarity which really is mid-tone blur, much more readily than color. You only have "tone" to worry about, avoiding any color "clashes."
I am overwhelmed by the response for this year's Flash of Red February! I am looking through a few books and making a decision asap. As soon as I have the info (no later than Saturday) I will post all the info etc. on the discussion board and tag you so you'll see it. I don't know how I'll keep up with all of you, but I'm looking forward to trying!
@lyndamcg Yes, it runs like all the other challenges. You upload to your own album and if you'd like you can post it on the weekly discussion thread too, but that's optional. There will be a tag for the challenge and that will be included in the upcoming post with all the other info.
@frankhymus I cannot tell whether or not you are interested in doing this Frank. If you are, let me know and I'll add you to the list of @ tags. As for the selective color on the 14th, that has always been optional, and in the last two years you could choose whatever color you wanted. You may think it is gimmicky, but as Northy pointed out, it does make the calendar view look pretty cool- which was the whole intent of it in the first place. Like everything else on this site, people have the freedom to adapt any given challenge or theme to their own likes and projects. So should you decide to do a month of black and white and tag it for Flash of Red without the selective coloring that's perfectly fine. Your project, your rules.
@olivetreeann I would love to join in. I would enjoy just using the B&W setting as my primary mode for the month with the change on the 14th for adding the touch of red. Thank you for hosting.
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Will there be a tag we can use to see all the pics together?
@peterdegraaff are you running a film february this year?
"Good" color is difficult. I claim the "adequate" B&W is comparatively easy, by contrast....
@kali66 Yes, I had planned to pick out an ebook this week. I've started one, I just want to make sure it has good themes for us to work with (always optional). I'll wait for Northy's response, and then get going if she'd like me to do it. And I'll collect everyone's @'s to notify them when/if I get it going.
count me in please ☺
Thanks @kali @northy
And no, I don't just click a preset to make B&W. That was actually my point, there are so many ways to render a B&W because you can map the underlying "colors" almost anyway you want into tonal values across the histogram. This "play" with the greyscale map is actually a very useful tool to help you begin to "see" B&W possibilities, if you find that troublesome, tonal variations that is, even if you don't use it in production developing.
B&W being "developed," too, tends to take sharpening, contrast variations (super high to super low), variations in white balance before you convert, and @northy and my pet effect, negative clarity which really is mid-tone blur, much more readily than color. You only have "tone" to worry about, avoiding any color "clashes."
I am overwhelmed by the response for this year's Flash of Red February! I am looking through a few books and making a decision asap. As soon as I have the info (no later than Saturday) I will post all the info etc. on the discussion board and tag you so you'll see it. I don't know how I'll keep up with all of you, but I'm looking forward to trying!
@lyndamcg Yes, it runs like all the other challenges. You upload to your own album and if you'd like you can post it on the weekly discussion thread too, but that's optional. There will be a tag for the challenge and that will be included in the upcoming post with all the other info.
@frankhymus I cannot tell whether or not you are interested in doing this Frank. If you are, let me know and I'll add you to the list of @ tags. As for the selective color on the 14th, that has always been optional, and in the last two years you could choose whatever color you wanted. You may think it is gimmicky, but as Northy pointed out, it does make the calendar view look pretty cool- which was the whole intent of it in the first place. Like everything else on this site, people have the freedom to adapt any given challenge or theme to their own likes and projects. So should you decide to do a month of black and white and tag it for Flash of Red without the selective coloring that's perfectly fine. Your project, your rules.
I've added you to the list! Stay tuned...