[oculus]

At any rate, here is the image in color without any adjustments, except for WB and contrast. One "flaw" of the M-28 2.8 on the K-50's sensor is an exaggerated saturation of yellow. If my copy of this lens weren't so fantastic I would swap it out for something designed for a digital body. Since I do not ever use autofocus I am happy to make such a compromise.

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Last edited by oculus; 03-25-2015 at 12:57 AM.

[Dartmoor Dave]

I like the colour version very much, and much more than I liked the B&W. Could it be that the century-old tradition of B&W street photography has descended into cliché, and that colour photography is now the best way to practice street shooting with real honesty?

(On a technical note, if you're not happy with the colour rendering of the M28mm/2.8, the SMC Takumar 28mm/3.5 can give gorgeous results as a manual focus alternative.)

[oculus]

I like the colour version very much, and much more than I liked the B&W. Could it be that the century-old tradition of B&W street photography has descended into cliché, and that colour photography is now the best way to practice street shooting with real honesty?

(On a technical note, if you're not happy with the colour rendering of the M28mm/2.8, the SMC Takumar 28mm/3.5 can give gorgeous results as a manual focus alternative.)

I think what you say is often true, that sometimes the monochrome can come across as cliche -- but I think it all depends on the frame itself. When I am processing an image I think to myself, how can I show the viewer what I am trying to show? For whatever reason, I am more comfortable processing in B/W (I use mainly LR and the NIK suite), but I would be open to suggestions on how to improve color processing.

As to the Takumar 28/3.5, I have been looking around for a lens to which to compare this M28. Any other suggestions? I have also considered the DA 21.

---------- Post added 03-05-15 at 08:08 AM ----------

I like the colour version very much, and much more than I liked the B&W. Could it be that the century-old tradition of B&W street photography has descended into cliché, and that colour photography is now the best way to practice street shooting with real honesty?

(On a technical note, if you're not happy with the colour rendering of the M28mm/2.8, the SMC Takumar 28mm/3.5 can give gorgeous results as a manual focus alternative.)

An additional consideration, for me at lest, is when the ISO gets to be 1600 and above, graininess is more forgivable, it seems, in a BW image.

[CreationBear]

Could it be that the century-old tradition of B&W street photography has descended into cliché

If you're entertaining questions, though, here's another: what responsibility do you have to your subject to make her appear as she would want to be seen? I might argue that one of the functions of B&W is that it elides that confrontation between our (sometimes delusional) self-image and the mirror you're holding up to nature. Robbie Burns' invocation


O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!


sounds all noble at first, but tell that to Norma Desmond.

[Dartmoor Dave]

If you're entertaining questions, though, here's another: what responsibility do you have to your subject to make her appear as she would want to be seen? I might argue that one of the functions of B&W is that it elides that confrontation between our (sometimes delusional) self-image and the mirror you're holding up to nature.

Exactly: B&W inevitably imposes a layer of abstraction between the viewer and subject. Sometimes it allows us to look at things that we couldn't bear to see in colour, sometimes it gives glamour to the mundane, sometimes it casts a distorting veil of photographic beauty that hides the ugliness of the world. I'm certainly not saying that there's no place for B&W -- I use it more and more myself these days -- but simply stating that, for this particular subject, I feel that the colour version seems (to me) to be more truthful.

Oculus: please accept my assurance that I wasn't accusing you of cliché. In fact, what I like most about your photograph is the way that it seems to directly confront the lady at the bus stop without imposing many of the street photography conventions onto her. Your photograph raises lots of interesting questions about street photography as a genre, and I was talking about B&W vs colour in street photography in general.