The human eye has an amazing ability to detect a wide variety of colours, shades, hues and contrasts. From the humble beginning of our ancestor's need to differentiate between a ripe berry and a stomach-ache inducing one through colour we can now detect around 1 - 7 million different colours, depending on which website you read. (Yes, I do research for these blogs. It's not just thrown together.) We detect light through our brains decoding light particles (called photons) that are absorbed by over 120 million light sensitive cells which are sent via electrical impulses to the brain to convert into an image of the colour we 'see'. The different wavelengths of these photons produce the colours we know as 'blue' (short wavelengths) and 'red' (long wavelengths). All other colours fall in-between. Why do I mention this? It just seems amazing to me that for all this evolutionary development of the eye (which even the great Darwin himself professed himself to be at a loss as to how it developed) and the huge amount of complexity that goes to producing the single colour 'blue' it seems amazing to me that we actually spend a considerable amount of time photographing black and white. Humans! I'll never understand them. Of course we know some animals see in nothing else but shades of black and white (and possibly greys): dogs, mice, cats, bulls (forget that rubbish about red capes) whereas others see in bright colours beyond our spectral abilities such as most insects who see in ultraviolet. Most Old World monkeys see mostly the same as we do but New World monkeys have less perfect colour detection. For myself I like the simplicity of a black and white image. I find that sometimes the colour actually distracts from the contrast within the photograph. Making an image black and white actually enhances the texture of the photograph. Of course, it does not always work like this: sometimes it is better in colour but by reducing the number of things clamouring for the attention of your eye the viewer can concentrate more on the different textures and contrasts within the image. A similar effect to that I mentioned in an earlier post when I was talking about reducing the number of colours in an image helps to concentrate the viewer's focus on the main focal point of the picture. I think the images below show this very well. whilst each has its own good points I think that the one on the right permits us to appreciate the fluffiness of the gosling chick much better. Those of us of a certain age will remember when colour film was very expensive and virtually all photographs were black and white. Something the modern world finds very strange. Looking through some old photos of my mother's youth and wedding my great niece (then about 6 or 7) actually asked her: 'When did you get colour?'. But today in the world of reusable HD cards and digital photography (not to mention computers and social media) it is simple and cheap to create colour images. So why black and white? Artistically black and white can create a whole different feel to an image by highlighting the shadows and creating 'mood' amongst other things. Messing around with the black and white balance, contrast, colour (yes, really!) balances as well as other functions can really alter the image. Out of the three images above my personal favourite is the penguin. I just think this works really well and I love the hint of an eye peeping out at you. I will confess that unlike all other images here this one was actually edited on my mobile with one of their pre-set options. Usually I edit to black and white in Photoshop. Usually I only do this if I am dissatisfied with the colour result (as with the panda) or I think that the image might look better/different/strange in black and white. Not that it always works and not all images lend themselves to black and white photography. This close up of a zebra actually looks more or less the same whichever way you edit it. I know, I tried - just to see. If we return to my main premise for black and white in my photography: that is to reduce distractions to emphasise textures or specific points then we can use a variety of methods to achieve this end but first let me continue along the black and white line for a moment and discuss how best to achieve great black and white images. Firstly, I always shoot images in RAW format and in colour. It probably is just me but I have never been satisfied with the way my pictures come out when shooting in black and white (but I may revisit this soon) and then edit to black and white. Apart from anything else it gives me the option of keeping one or the other, or both. Then I look for images that I feel might be suitable to adapting and try it. In editing it is a matter of seconds to try black and white and change back if not as good as you thought. So what I am looking for is images that give context to texture or highlight some aspect of the image or which I just like in black and white as with the cheetah. With the Sleepy mob image not only do you have the gorgeous flow and spikiness of their fur but I think the way the wood comes out all harsh and jagged just counterpoints the softness of the sleepy meerkats. Before all this however, before I have even tried converting to black and white I always check the actual quality of the image. A bad image is not going to be saved by turning it black and white. Those bits out of focus will still be out of focus, blurriness will still show up. Black and white is not a second choice or a cure-all. It is just another option and the GIGO principle still applies: Garbage In, Garbage Out as this image shows when you lightbox it. Whilst it has its great points: the hand and foot in the centre of the image are great examples of texture in black and white the focus around the eye could have been a bit sharper. An early period image. This image also demonstrates one of the differences you can make to a simple black and white image by adding just a splash of colour to it. To be honest black and white photography is not something I use a lot of but it is always nice to remember that you always have this option in the background. But you don't always need to go black and white to create a very similar look. The image below has not been altered to black and white but it looks as if it is like the lemur huddle image with just a splash of colour added to the eye. I find ring tailed lemurs are great for this, particularly if photographed against a grey, black or white background. Would I edit this to black and white? No, I don't think it would make that much difference to the image. Kind of related to this old-fashioned look as mentioned earlier (but not that closely related but I couldn't think of anywhere else to put this) is the use of sepia. This is the only sepia(ish) image I have and I have included it here because again it is just using two tones as with black and white but here it is brown and white. To me it is just a variation of the main black and white theme here. Incidentally, did you know the word 'sepia' comes from the greek for cuttlefish since sepia was originally obtained from the cuttlefish inksac. Don't say I don't educate you. Below is the original image for comparison. I was thinking of ending this up on discussing using a black background for the same reason as using black and white: to enhance the textures, add atmosphere and highlight contrasts within the image. I think, however, I might leave that to later. This kind of leaves me in a quandary as I have no idea how to finish this off.
So let me give a very quick recap: Black and white photography is great for emphasising textures and contrasts. Not every picture makes a good black and white image. It is not a panacea for making bad pictures better. A bad picture is still just as bad (if not worse) in black and white for the first reason above. It is great to have in the background as a go-to editing process. So there you have it: black and white, just in case you never thought about using it. To finally, finally end on: my favourite image that shows off the best in what black and white can achieve.
2 Comments
ian merrick
8/9/2023 23:00:43
Thank you. I’m happy to enjoyed it
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