Photography - Black/White and Color

Hi there,

We are all familiar with black and white photography. Color photography is obvious and more common. A combination of those two styles is becoming more popular these days, especially due to photo applications (instagram etc.). The idea behind this technique, is to emphasise an important part of the object or to highlight a certain area, and to make the whole atmosphere more dramatic and appealing.


Let's take a look at some examples.

 On the left photo we can see a pit bull staring at us. The first thing that draws our attention is the eyes, they are penetrating and have that special wolf's yellow-orange color. In order to make those eyes more dramatic, we have to get rid of the fur's red-brownish color. The result (on the right) is far more intense. The eye color is the same, but now you can REALLY feel them. Many people told me that the processed photo is too scary, and intimidating, well...after the process you cannot ignore the photo, and that is a good thing.

On the left we can see two beautiful white roses, in a nice composition. The roses are in the same color, therefore the rose in foreground loses its uniqueness and its special structure. Instead of cropping the picture and deleting the background, I decided to paint the rose, and to make it pop out as a red silky object. The background remains in black and white, and helps the red rose to be the star of the show. The new processed photo is more dramatic and romantic, you can even use it as a valentine card :)

Unfortunately I haven't kept the original photo, but you can sense that the bourbon bottle, with its tempting amber liquid, was a little bit blended in the background. The new colorless background, highlights the bottle, and makes it more appealing and even royal.



If you think that all Black/White and Color pictures look great, think again... Like in every other photo, we must be careful not to overdo things, and to use it only when we need to make a point. To my opinion, using this technique just for "show off", will make it tacky and ridiculous.
here is an example :

This photo reeks of cliche and bad taste, and was created just to make a point, so be careful! :)


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