Showing posts with label black and white. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black and white. Show all posts

Monday, July 8, 2013

The value of black and white for interpretive imaging

Reviewing my Laurel Mill photos from three days ago, I began to rethink my processing of one of them. What gave the image some interest, I felt, was the streaks of clouds. They mostly radiated from the apparent location of the mill, and functioned as leading lines, drawing the eyes to the subject. I emphasized that by darkening the blue sky, but keeping it within a realistic range of appearance. I'll repost that version here for comparison.


Today, realizing that textures and shapes were far more important elements in this photo than color, I played with monochrome interpretations. This version is much like what I might have done long ago by shooting b&w film with a deep red filter in front of the lens, followed by high contrast printing. This is not intended to be a "photorealistic" depiction of the scene as I saw it. Rather, it's a dramatic interpretation of what I wished to see.


You may have noticed that the changes in the image led me to a decision to crop a little from the right side for better balance.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-value-of-black-and-white-for.html


Wednesday, May 1, 2013

April showers bring May flowers, even indoors

Black and white seemed best for this one. There's not much color interest anyway, and going monochromatic allowed me to focus attention on subtleties of shape and texture.


Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/05/april-showers-bring-may-flowers-even.html