Author Topic: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.  (Read 14992 times)

xarax

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  I believe that, if we can shoot good B&W pictures of knots, we should prefer them from colour pictures.
  Colour pictures offer this easy, comfortable but also superficial, skin-deep only "similarity" with the real, familial everyday objects, but they lack the power of abstraction of black&white pictures. A picture of an object is NOT the object itself - it is just a f... picture ! A picture of a pipe, is not the pipe !  :) A picture of a knot, is not the knot - the knot is what you get when you entangle a piece of rope, and you pull, twist, untie, and then tie it again and again. A B&W picture helps us avoid the trap of "virtual reality" ...
  However, to shoot a good B&W picture is a difficult job : it requires effort, time, talent, equipment - and oftentimes luck...
  That is why sometimes I feel the need to post those mediocre colour pictures ( which may look OK to most people ), AND, side by side to them, those mediocre B&W pictures ( which do not look as good as they should to me ! ).
  Having said that, I would appreciate a generous offer of 7.450 $, to buy a Leica Monochrome  :) :) :) :
  http://us.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/LEICA-M-MONOCHROM2/Details
  http://www.adorama.com/LCM246.html
  Some nice B&W pictures :
  https://instagram.com/jasonmpeterson/
This is not a knot.

xarax

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2015, 12:51:31 PM »
  We do not need to represent knots by pictures of knots tied on ropes : we can use other flexible "tubes", made by various elastic materials, provided the do not elongate longitudinally, and they retain their circular cross sections. I have used vacuum cleaner and garden flexible hoses. as well as less wide steel springs ( steel is reflective, so it "writes" nicely on high contrast B&W pictures ).
  To get an idea of what I mean, see :
  http://www.tonyhutchings.co.uk/stilllife.html#23
« Last Edit: July 16, 2015, 01:02:53 PM by xarax »
This is not a knot.

knotsaver

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2015, 01:48:40 PM »
Hi Xarax!
very nice! :)
 
  We do not need to represent knots by pictures of knots tied on ropes : we can use other flexible "tubes", made by various elastic materials,
I sometimes use "spaghetti" (boiled!) or, even better, "bucatini"  and it's funny too! :)
I have to shoot some B&W pictures ;)
ciao,
s.

alpineer

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2015, 05:45:28 PM »
A little off topic, but, I've wanted to purchase half-black & half-white (lengthwise) 5-7mm accessory cord with the express purpose of studying knot torsion signatures. I doubt that such a cord exists off-the-shelf, but I'd love to get my hands on some, and so not have to resort to jerry-rigging. It has long puzzled me the little "airtime" which torsion receives on this forum when it is such a deeply intrinsic part of what makes up a knot.         
« Last Edit: July 16, 2015, 05:48:24 PM by alpineer »

xarax

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2015, 06:17:52 PM »
...the little "airtime" which torsion receives on this forum when it is such a deeply intrinsic part of what makes up a knot.
   +1
   Perhaps because the generation of torsion, during the shrinking of the nub, as well as the consequences of its "propagation" along a "twisted" segment, are effects which are veeery difficult to watch, to measure and to evaluate. I suspect that the differences we see in the shape of knots tied on stiff ropes ( which, among other things, "work" as torsion bars ) and on "soft" ropes ( which are not "loaded" by torsion forces ) are mainly due to the effects of torsion.

P.S.   In general, kermantle ropes are stiff ropes, while single braided ropes are soft ropes. I am talking about the "resistance" of a segment of a stiff or of a soft rope to torsion ( due to its twisting ) - not only to compression / flattening ( due to its squeezing ).
« Last Edit: July 16, 2015, 09:51:28 PM by xarax »
This is not a knot.

alpineer

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2015, 06:32:29 PM »
shape of knots tied on stiff knots
?

alpineer

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2015, 09:04:07 PM »
shape of knots tied on stiff knots
?

Did you mean "shape of knots tied on stiff ropes".

xarax

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2015, 09:50:45 PM »
  I could nt mean " knots tied on knots", could I ? ?   :) :)
This is not a knot.

Dan_Lehman

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2015, 07:37:34 PM »
A little off topic, but, I've wanted to purchase half-black & half-white (lengthwise) 5-7mm accessory cord with the express purpose of studying knot torsion signatures. I doubt that such a cord exists off-the-shelf, but I'd love to get my hands on some, and so not have to resort to jerry-rigging. It has long puzzled me the little "airtime" which torsion receives on this forum when it is such a deeply intrinsic part of what makes up a knot.         
There is some B&W "poly-Dac" marine cordage
that sort of fits your need : "sort of" in that the
monofilament PP runs one direction, polyester
multifilament the other (I could be wrong and
it's nylon, but PS better matches to PP/PE and
hence the colloquial name).  (Tends to be somewhat
square-ish, though, per differing material flexibilities.)

Indeed, I've often wondered about all the arc'd
up strands going one direction on knots, showing
that they were contributing zilch to holding tension!
(On a fig.8 eye knot, which is known to be strong.)

--dl*
====

windychien

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2016, 07:14:58 AM »
I have been tying a knot every day in 2016. THey are color but have the beauty of b&w.

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/yearofknots/

SS369

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2016, 01:31:21 PM »
Very nicely done windychien.
Thank you for sharing and I hope you will share more as they come.

SS

Mobius

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2016, 06:01:51 AM »
Very nice windychien, I am enjoying looking at your images  :D

windychien

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #12 on: January 27, 2017, 10:35:29 PM »
Very nicely done windychien.
Thank you for sharing and I hope you will share more as they come.

SS


Thank you! I'm so glad you like them. Here is an article from yesterday: https://www.wired.com/2017/01/artist-tied-one-knot-every-day-2016-results-gorgeous/#slide-1

KC

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Re: The power of black and white photography - in the case of knots.
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2017, 12:13:23 PM »
To me, color/non-color choice is partially about contrasting 'drama'; so partially subjective to what you are used to etc.
.
Author shows clean, crisp Black-n-White can do this defining contrasting very well.
But, for me; part of that BW drama would bring me back to an older time,
>>with 'grittier' components of hard work/conditions of rope in this 'drama'; story told in the picture as part of the scene.
but my familiarity is totally as work device, so looking to feel the gritty work and sweat, rope loaded w/force of the scene i think;
>>but still think it is the best 'drama' from the BW canvas.
.
In contrast, i think colorful 'eye candy' has it's merits to the other extreme of clean and smooth.
.
Each should draw you in with it's details and depths i think.
>>even to the point of perhaps eye fascination opens to light mesmerism of more open mind to learning, as pic looks so right??
>>i think we have a survivalist animal eye, that rejects false looking pics etc.; doesn't open to them
>>as animals we are constantly learning what looks right around us, so can define out of place threats
>>in drawing this comes up so many times, as just doesn't look right; you just know something is out of place, but can't define it.
>>brain is pushing back, not open when eye says content isn't right
.
i believe things i've put together are more labor intensive as a real 'draw' back!
>>but then always trying to leave said construction open to animation..
.
edit:Drawing/ animation can also take viewer into theoretical places/views etc. that picture couldn't.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2017, 12:27:59 AM by KC »
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" -Sir Francis Bacon[/color]
East meets West: again and again, cos:sine is the value pair of yin/yang dimensions
>>of benchmark aspect and it's non(e), defining total sum of the whole.
We now return you to the safety of normal thinking peoples

 

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