crosleyjsc1

'Balloon Man'

I went to a parade with two film cameras, one 35mm with bw film and the other 2-1-4 square with color film. I saw this balloon vendor and thought he'd mak...
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I went to a parade with two film cameras, one 35mm with bw film and the other 2-1-4 square with color film. I saw this balloon vendor and thought he'd make a good photo subject, and first framed him with the 35mm b-w film camera with b-w film, and it felt good. Next, I tried to frame a similar photo in color on the 2-1-4 square also with a medium telephoto lens. The results are that in b&w with this framing it has been one of the best photos of my lifetime, while the color photo was not very successful, the careful framing not suited by the square aspect ratio, and worse, the multi-colored balloons each stood out as a separate entity, breaking up the balloons which I saw and felt should be displayed as a 'mass'. Thus, in B&W, a great success, I felt, and in color, a ho-hum, discardable photo, not worthy of showing to others. It's a circumstance that best illustrates how some photos are best suited to desaturation and not color, whereas, I have many instances which illustrate the opposite proposition, and some which show equally well in color and B&W -- some of those looking almost the same and others looking vastly different (But quite good) in color and B-W showing. This photo also illustrates a variety of photo composition techniques -- far too many to discuss here, which only over time I've uncovered, and did not realize at first blush.
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