Always the tricky thing:
Should I shoot monochrome or color when I’m shooting travel street photography?
Practical thoughts after shooting Havana, Cuba for a week (having never been there before).
Go into a new place with no preconceived notions
First of all, a “blank slate” (tabula rasa) notion is good before shooting travel street photography in any new place. Contrary to popular belief, my recommendation:
Look at no photos of a place, and don’t do any research of a place before going there.
This is a true visual adventure and odyssey.
But Cuba is so colorful!
This is the basic idea:
Place [x] is so colorful. It is a crime to NOT shoot it in color.
I agree, but at the same time, you gotta follow your own gut. I saw lots of colorful stuff in Havana and shot some photos in color (positive film JPEG preset in RICOH GR III), but 90% was monochrome for me.
Some color photos:
But ultimately my sense was this:
Monochrome feels better to me.
Monochrome photos:
Havana, 2019 #streettogs Havana, 2020 #cindyproject
Thus the basic idea is this:
Figure out whether you wanna shoot black and white (or color) once you get there.
And also:
When you’re there, feel free to shoot BOTH black and white (or color).
To JPEG or to RAW?
Based on my experience: better to shoot JPEG than RAW. Why? Nowadays modern digital cameras actually produce BETTER JPEG renditions of a scene, than compared to RAW photos. Also personally speaking, shooting JPEG has sped up my photographic and artistic workflow by 10x+.
Now my one camera one lens setup is RICOH GR III, shooting JPEG (high contrast black and white) and ERIC KIM STRAP.
Generally speaking, anything you can do to simplify your photographic workflow is good.
Conclusion
Ain’t better for monochrome or color. Both are good.
- Figure it out once you get there
- Shoot both
- When you’re reviewing and editing your photos after the trip, figure out which you prefer the best!
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