My first photography trade show and seminar – Part 3

If you’ve been keeping up with my blogging, I’ve been updating you on workshops that I took at the Edmonton Photographic Trade Show back in October. Here is my summary on the final workshop I took that day.

“Color VS Black and White” by Robert Goerzen was a short but very helpful seminar. The lessons I came out with is that there simply is no right or wrong. It will always be a personal choice to put a photo in black and white or color. Robert still had some good guidelines:

• B & W generally portrays mood and timelessness, color portrays boldness and usually draws attention to some detail
• Nature tends to show better in color and usually becomes muddled in B & W
  • When shown the same nature photo in color and B & W, 80% of people choose color
  • Fall scenes are more appealing in color
• Never set your camera to the monochrome setting
  • To make an image B & W, use a photo editing program
• Avoid overexposure (if you are planning a photo to be B & W), better to have it underexposed for B & W processing
• Sometimes colors can steal a scene
  • If a color is drawing focus from your intent, try it in B & W
  • Stark color of high contrast can really pop in B & W
• Texture
  • If your subject has a lot of texture, B & W will enhance texture
• Landscapes
  • This depends on the time of year
  • Summer/spring try color, winter – try B & W for mood
• People
  • Look great in color and B & W
  • This is a personal choice, but think about the mood you want to convey
  • Elderly people often look good in B & W, as this is a mental construct from “olden days” before the days of color
• Buildings and Architecture
  • Older usually look better in B & W
  • Newer architecture generally people like color better

One thing that almost all of the facilitators mentioned was to learn the “rules” but also to break the rules. Some of the best and most famous photos are ones that break the rules. Also, there was a general consensus to shoot in RAW format. I have not done a lot in RAW yet, but something for me to think about. All in all, an exhausting day with the amount of seminars I took in, but well worth it for the $15 ticket to get in the door. I went home full of information. Some was information I already knew, but ended up being a good reminder, and some was news to me. I didn’t break the bank. I did purchase a soft box for my external flash, as well as a new camera bag, which should allow for more easy access of my camera and lenses. McBain Camera did a great job hosting the event, with lots of staff around to answer questions. This event was truly a great experience.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or requests, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for reading!!