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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Black-and-white?







I am a huge fan of colour, but lately I find myself attracted to black-and-white photography -- not just when viewing the work of others, but in my own creations as well. When I'm working on an image in Photoshop's Camera Raw interface, I often select the Convert to Grayscale option to see if the conversion appeals to me. More and more frequently, it does. I'm now taking a critical eye to my photos, trying to determine if the colour enhances the image or distracts from it.

Take the photograph above. Roll your cursor over it (in other words, slide your mouse pointer onto the image) to form your own opinion -- when you do the rollover, you'll see the colour version, which is the image I chose to post in my Flickr photostream. But I was so undecided about that decision that I almost put both versions up. I really like this image in black-and-white, but yet I think the colour version highlights the grunge. In the end, I decided to go with the colour because of the photograph's delicious decay.

As a side note, this amazing architectural element was found right here in Toronto. Walking south on Yonge Street early one summer evening a few years ago, south of Bloor Street, camera in hand, I happened to glance up and was so surprised to see this beauty. Who knows how long she's been there? I stopped to take photographs (of course!) and the captain and our son and his girlfriend kept walking, only to realize I was no longer with them -- not the first time this has happened -- so they backtracked to where I was standing. We'd all walked up and down Yonge Street many times, yet had never noticed.

Makes you wonder what else we miss. We see but we don't always observe.

3 comments:

Leslie Jane Moran said...

That rolling your cursor over the image trick is very neat. I prefer the yellowish one. I think some of the warming effect gets a bit lost in the black and white. Having said that, I also love the black and white. Two cards. One for warm wishes the other cool sentiments :)

Susan Williamson said...

I actually like both and found it hard to choose!

Larraine said...

Prefer the black and white myself. I think it forces the viewer to really see the subject. Plus that yellow looks fake to me. Just my opinion.

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