Subscribe to PostsA while back I read a book on color photography by Ansel Adams, I came away with the impression that he preferred B&W because he felt freer to interpret the photo with greater latitude to depart from realism. Given how people experience life and the world in color, when faced with a color image they have a greater expectation that it will live within the parameters of what they consider real.
Here’s an image captured with the Nikon D7000 and Sigma 17-50 f2.8, where in color I pushed contrast as far as I felt comfortable, but felt hamstrung by "realism."
With my B&W conversion, I tried a number of things, finally ending on an interpretation that de-emphasized (thereby darkening) the greens and highlighted the reds and magentas to arrive at what I feel is a more striking image. The key for me here was playing with local contrast (via control points in Silver Efex) to bring out texture in the petals, while keeping the highlights in check.
What do you think? Do you also feel that B&W gives you more freedom for how you can interpret an image? This of course assumes your goal is to interpret rather than to simply represent what was there in the first place.
Al
September 9th, 2011 at 19:36
Not a fan of the B&W myself…
Massimo
September 13th, 2011 at 02:17
Hi Eduardo,
I think that B&W causes the photographer and the viewer to see the world in a way that cannot be seen with the naked eye. As you have shown, B&W makes a photo even more of an abstraction by removing the distraction of color and allowing us to concentrate on the graphic elements – texture of the petals. This is especially the case when a B&W photo shows good contrast. I agree with you: B&W gives us more freedom for interpreting an image – such as the choice of the composition, the light and the final format of the image.
Best regards
Massimo
Marie
September 19th, 2011 at 20:45
When painting from a photograph it always helps me to have a black and white image available. It forces me to see the image for in a whole different way. I see what’s there and not what I think should be there. A recent project remided me of how the figure studies for the Sistine chapel were done with charcoal or ink.