Sunday, October 7, 2012

No Colour - Black, white and many shades of grey.



The strong brown of the early morning coffee, that unexpected yellow in concrete jungle or the incandescent orange rays of setting sun, the human eye responds very strongly to colours.  The advertisers and filmmakers no doubt have recognized the subtle power of colour to catch the human eye and influence our moods, but great photographers and filmmakers also recognize the other important aspect in the visual medium; the forms and shapes.


When you look at a black and white photograph, your eye is forced to examine the forms and shapes without the distraction of colour.  There are photographers like Ansel Adams whose images are superbly balanced and he clearly elevates the photography to an art form.

In my college years one of my seniors used to bring a digital camera to our campus, but oddly enough he used to switch the camera to black n' white mode and take pictures repeatedly of an old banyan tree.  In conversing with him, I found out that he was trying to capture "the balance of things, you know, the shapes of things."  We thought he was a nut job and left him alone; I wonder where he is now.  Later in my life after countless number of days with my humble camera, I think I understood what he was trying to say.  Here's me applying some of his principles.



Dargah at Moula-Ali





Arabian Sea and a silhouette of a friend.




Tamilnadu-Kerala border.







Disused warehouse, originally a colour photograph converted into black and white.




On a Friday at friends' house. 
                                                           












18 comments:

  1. Great shots. Loved the landscapes. I noticed that one of the pics has a note that it is a color pic converted. Is there a difference between shooting in the B&W mode on a digital camera and converting color images to greyscale in an image editor?

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    1. Yes there is a significant difference. When I am shooting in B&W mode there is very less control I have over the final output. With colour information discarded I find that there are only a few options I am left with on how the final image looks like. When I shoot in colour I get different shades of colour which can be converted to its corresponding grayscale, then if I decide that that photograph looks good in B&W I go to Photoshop and play around with many different filters and image editing options until I get the right shades I am happy with, but that is just me.

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  2. I simply like black and white pics as they seem to produce more depth and clarity. Like you said, without the distractions of color. I love the windy trees the most in the set of pics. Sweet shots

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    1. Thank you Meoww. The windy trees pic was taken from a moving train, thanks to the technology it didn't come out all the bad.

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  3. Its my first visit here and I liked your take on b/w photographs. They have a penchant to tease the viewer with myriad posiibilities of interpretations. Liked the shot of the man on the stairs.

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    1. Welcome ilakshee. Thank you for the compliments. The man on the stairs is my father and I was playing around with the camera and I just decided to click for a laugh.

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  4. Moula ali and windy trees, great. Wish I can do that magic.

    Nice to see a post from you. Do it often, please.

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    1. Thank you Ms. Pattu Raj. Anyone with a digital camera can do if they have enough time on their hands. Your encouragement means much to me :-)

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  5. Very impressive pictures, Sandeep. Love them all.

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  6. Good attempt, I must say. I like the one with the silhouette of your buddy. Also the last one... you guys were on the terrace or something??

    www.anucreations.blogspot.in
    www.facebook.com/VolatileSpirits

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  7. I love the one with the dog. It has very good perspective to it.

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  8. Awesome shots!! Interesting and lively...

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