About a month ago, I wrote a short piece about why I love portraits in black and white. The piece promoted a kind of romanticism for photography's original monochromatic aesthetic, as if color were a mere distraction from composition and form.
I'm happy to say, though that I've come around, and I now find myself more attracted to color portraiture than ever before.
I took these portraits in The Tent during Fordham's homecoming weekend, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I love the way the blue denim each subject is wearing complements the maroon of their Fordham apparel and the event's balloons, and I'm particularly compelled by the way their somber, meditative expressions contrast with the event's celebratory air.
On a digital camera, all image files look more or less the same before they're edited in terms of color rendering. When you snap the shutter on a DSLR, the camera tries to capture (as accurately as possible) the color and form of whatever happens to be in front of it. All color editing comes in post-production.
On film, though, it's an entirely different story. Each type of film stock carries with it its own look, feel and color scheme. Kodak, for example, sells a variety of film types, and each looks markedly distinct from the rest. For my color portraiture, though, one Kodak film stock stands out, and it's called Portra 400. It's renowned for its vibrant color rendering and smooth, fine grain; and in the hands of an experienced portrait photographer, it presents an advantage, particularly for its beautifully-realistic representation of skin tones.
That's not to say that Portra 400 is the absolute best, though. It's certainly not the only kind of film I use, and that's kind of the point: film photographers often experiment with different color film stocks they're unfamiliar with to open their eyes to the different looks, feels, and color schemes they can create.
I took these portraits in The Tent during Fordham's homecoming weekend, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I love the way the blue denim each subject is wearing complements the maroon of their Fordham apparel and the event's balloons, and I'm particularly compelled by the way their somber, meditative expressions contrast with the event's celebratory air.