Monochromatic Images

There is something wonderfully evocative about a black and white image. Perhaps it reminds one of a bygone era, or perhaps it signals a certain level of sophistication, or maybe even, having stripped of all colour, it forces the viewer to focus on the merits of the image alone. Whatever the reason, in these days of digital photography the black and white photograph is still a very popular medium to display a photograph. Almost every kind of subject has been captured in black and white - from stunning portraits to sweeping landscapes to the form and structure of abstracts.

Yet, having said I don't think that all kinds of pictures are suitable for conversion into black and white. If you asked me what criteria I had for that, I wouldn't be able to tell you definitely - I'd say it depends on what mood or feel you're trying to achieve with a certain picture. Sometimes, it's just a gut feeling or a matter of experimentation whether a certain shot would work in monochrome.

Well, no one ever said that photography is an exact science.

The Moon on Black
Pentax K10D, 1/90 sec., f/11

A day at the nursery

My wife wanted to go to the nursery to buy some plants and flowers for her school, so . While she went about doing her busines, I got busy shooting all the beautiful flowers around. The light was wonderfully soft then (it had been raining and was actually threatening to rain again!), but there was still more than enough light to shoot with a decent shutter speed.

Here is a selection of what I've shot. All were shot handheld with a 50mm f/1.7 with extension tubes attached at ISO200. With the depth of field wafer thin when shooting macro, and a soft wind blowing, I used burst mode to increase my chances of getting a sharp shot. It was tough, but in the end I got what I wanted.