Author Topic: Always colour? (Read 5480 times)

hairybiker777 · « **on:** July 04, 2014, 07:07 »

G'day folks,

I'm getting ready to submit a bunch of portraits from an engagement shoot that I did for some friends recently. They look way better in black and white than colour, but I'm undecided about whether to submit them like that... I would imagine that most folks are only looking for colour portraits. What is the accepted wisdom in cases like this?

TIA

Anja02 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 04, 2014, 07:38 »

When I submit photos from a portrait shoot, I select a small handful of the best ones also in B&W, so that the client gets both color and B&W for those. The client is usually very appreciative and sometimes wants more in B&W.

Personally I think most portraits look best in B&W, but it's good to give clients a choice. Often they can't visualise it for themselves, so you have to show them.

Anja02 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 04, 2014, 08:05 »

Also, once I took it a step further. This was also for an engagement shoot, the bride to be wore a dress in a a very beautiful dark red color. When I converted it to black and white, I thought it was a shame to lose the red, so in PS with the history brush, I took the dress - just the dress and her matching earrings - back to its original color. This was only for one, the solo head and shoulders shot just of her. It looked wonderful because skin tones look best in b&w, but the color of the dress wasn't lost.

She loved it so much, that they paid me extra to do 6 other shots. So, I think it's best to give them a little extra so they can see the difference.

hairybiker777 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 04, 2014, 21:18 »

Sorry, I didn't phrase the question very well... I was trying to say that I'm going to submit them as stock photos. I've already presented them in b&w to the couple, and funnily enough, I did the red dress thing too!

What I was driving at was that IMO they'd be more likely to get accepted by an agency in b&w because these shots just seem to take on another life in mono, but I'm concerned that if I submit them like that then I might miss out on stock sales because I expect most buyers looking for shots of couples would prefer colour and do their own mono conversion (if they want to)...

TIA

Anja02 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 04, 2014, 22:03 »

hahahha lol yes, I did misunderstand you - my apologies.

TravelPixPro.com · « **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2014, 11:14 »

Depending on the site, you may be able to submit both color and bw versions. If that's not allowed, I would default to color because, as mentioned, just bw can limit the marketability of the image.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #6 on:** September 16, 2014, 12:46 »

i have never found a site that will reject you for having both color and bnw. i prefer to do my own monochromatic version because not everyone is satisfied with simply desaturating a color original.
some sites too prefer the original monochromatic instead of a desaturated color pix.

u r right, some subjects do take on a life on its own in monochrome. i find when shapes and lines and shades are too distracting in color, they become more meaningful in black and white.

like paul simon used to say "kodachrome gives us those bright white colors";
then again ansel never did think much of kodachrome

Ubermansch · « **Reply #7 on:** September 25, 2014, 02:09 »

You did an engagement shoot and hope to profit from those intimate, personal photos in a microstock environment?

I hope your model release explains that to them.

Disagree with poster above, stick to original camera output. Let the buyer decide how they will manipulate your images. Maximum flexibility for buyer, less work for you.

hairybiker777 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 26, 2014, 15:40 »

Quote from: Ubermansch on September 25, 2014, 02:09

You did an engagement shoot and hope to profit from those intimate, personal photos in a microstock environment?
I hope your model release explains that to them.

They're close friends of mine, and it was agreed at the outset. The lady has posed for stock images for me before... there's no sleight of hand going on here.

In the end, I sent a few of the b&w images into SS (email to submit@) just to get some feedback on them. Their view was that it would be better to submit the colour images.

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Author Topic: Always colour? (Read 5480 times)

hairybiker777

Anja02

Anja02

hairybiker777

Anja02

TravelPixPro.com

etudiante_rapide

Ubermansch

hairybiker777

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