Friday 8 March 2013

STREET IN BLACK AND WHITE

Black and white version of two people walk away from the camera in a street with buildings, cars and traffic lights.


I posted the colour version of this yesterday. Barbee kindly left an interesting comment. This is part of if:

What surprised me was that it looked stronger in the small copy of the photo that appeared in my Follow reading list lead. When I clicked on it to read the complete post, I was taken aback with the loss of impact. I had to look at it for a minute to "see" it again. Then there is the surreal quality of the detached walkers going somewhere. At least that is the way I see it.

I found this interesting and helpful. Maybe this picture was 'born to be black and white'?

I've tried various monochrome versions. (Colour too.) It's possible to make it bright and clear and detailed. It's possible to provide sharp contrasts; bring prominence to the walkers; all sorts of things. But, the one I keep coming back to is this. It's murky. Everything is dull. This is how it was on the day. Dull day. Dull street. And that is what struck me.

Hopefully, the dullness of dull black and white is more striking than colour.

4 comments:

Mark and Gaz said...

It definitely has more impact in BW than colour, striking even!

Hollis said...

I like the black and white version very much. I'm starting to play with B&W -- still low on the learning curve. The challenge seems to be putting together a composition that is interesting ... not too busy, good contrast in light perhaps? It's fun to experiment, hooray for digital.

Follygirl said...

a very interesting pic, sprecial in b & w !

Lucy Corrander : Photos said...

Hello Mark and Gaz, Hollis and Follygirl. Thank you for your comments on the black and white version of the street scene.

I wish digital black and white were as easy as the chemicals and paper kind. I'm sure it's a matter of taste but it seems to me the high contrast pictures (with bright white) probably look best on screen but they aren't very life-like. It's a challenge getting the balance between documentary and 'look' right.