A life in black and wihte

[grafichissimo]

Today something different, as usal I am constantly searching for a photographic look and for my personal style.
This is what came up working in Photoshop.

[Dionysios.TS]

Today something different, as usal I am constantly searching for a photographic look and for my personal style.
This is what came up working in Photoshop.

You know what? I like it a lot!!!

3rd image maybe a bit too grainy....

[grafichissimo]

Cheers mate,
I am not a big fun of the heavy post production, but in this case I choose rather a radical approach.
The black and white version is definitely a way to read the weight of the layout elements without being distract by the colour palette.
It would be great to reproduce the real chemical photo grain, I try to add noise to images but is too consistent.

Any thought?
This is the colour version.

[RolandB]

It really looks like real photos. The depth is read in a very reliable way, and the integration of the characters seems much more real than on a color rendering.
Good idea !
Congratulations
Roland

[fellazb]

Perhaps you could blend\mask them in Photoshop to give some color on places were it would be suited. B&W is my favorite btw although it would be hard to convince the client I guess.

[grafichissimo]

Thanks Roland, yes I agree is not probably suitable for a big audience, anyway is a big fun.
So here it is the last renders of the series, what does work better?

[Ricky Johnson]

The black & white versions work very well. Particularly the Reception area.

It's interesting, just on the subject of realism alone, I've always noticed that a CG image will typically look instantly more realistic when modified to remove colour. This is without any other tweaking with filters to try and achieve a photographic look - adding grain etc.
I wonder why that is typically the case.
- Is it because of a tendency for the user to make mistakes in the colour values they input into shaders (unrealistic saturation amounts in diffuse)?
- Or are there some subtle shortcomings common to the render engines in the GI and the way colour is transferred compared to value? Or maybe something in CG noise when read in colour compared to B&W.
Probably much more likely to be the former (user mistakes), I suppose.

Anyway, sorry to sidetrack. It's just I've always been curious about that and it seemed like a good place to mention it given you were comparing versions side by side.

[TomG]

The black & white versions work very well. Particularly the Reception area.

It's interesting, just on the subject of realism alone, I've always noticed that a CG image will typically look instantly more realistic when modified to remove colour. This is without any other tweaking with filters to try and achieve a photographic look - adding grain etc.
I wonder why that is typically the case.
- Is it because of a tendency for the user to make mistakes in the colour values they input into shaders (unrealistic saturation amounts in diffuse)?
- Or are there some subtle shortcomings common to the render engines in the GI and the way colour is transferred compared to value? Or maybe something in CG noise when read in colour compared to B&W.
Probably much more likely to be the former (user mistakes), I suppose.

Anyway, sorry to sidetrack. It's just I've always been curious about that and it seemed like a good place to mention it given you were comparing versions side by side.

It may not be just a subject for rendering - look at how many photographers still prefer black and white :) Only in the realm of movies does black and white seem to be abandoned, it is still very much alive when it comes to still images whether they are real world or rendered! Interesting topic!

[Ricky Johnson]

It may not be just a subject for rendering - look at how many photographers still prefer black and white :) Only in the realm of movies does black and white seem to be abandoned, it is still very much alive when it comes to still images whether they are real world or rendered! Interesting topic!

Yes, very true. I was more curious though, outside of any artistic preference or judgment, as to why a change to B&W often seems to enhance the plausible photo-realism of a rendered image.
I wouldn't say in comparison that colour photographs have a tendency to look any less real than black and white photographs.

[Ondra]

It's interesting, just on the subject of realism alone, I've always noticed that a CG image will typically look instantly more realistic when modified to remove colour. This is without any other tweaking with filters to try and achieve a photographic look - adding grain etc.

eye/brain will always add more information where information is missing - blurry images, missing part of image, noise ... And everything brain adds is "realistic" to it. Back in my days when it was still pretty hard to do realistic CG people would go on to create realistic images by defocusicing, adding grain, CA, and other cheap camera effects. If you defocus your image, brain will focus it for you, and suddenly details in your textures etc. do not matter. It was considered a cheap trick back then (10 years ago) ;)

[grafichissimo]

I always thought the B&W images are a completely different movie, is not a desaturated colour pic.
In fact wonderful colour pics often doesn't work in B&W and vice versa.

Personally B&W photos are the most emotional kind of photography, I definitely prefer this kind of photos.

Visualisation is a completely different story.
I think to be honest there's no point in using the B&W in 3D unless your a 3D artist creating "Artistic production"of for specific commission.
If I put this kind of Visual in my Portfolio is to tell something about me beyond the technical skill.

I agree with Ondra where our brain is more stimulated when there is a lack of information and details.
Still I miss the old style pixelate games I was playing in the 90's.

Last but no least I always thought the people are use B&W in visual when the renders really looks crap.
But guys this in not my case ;)