To Leconte: Black & White - why?

[photoray]

Bonjour Valerie,

One of my photography professors urged us to instead of looking for 'colorful' subjects, to look for details and unusual interest. To think in "black & white" to determine if an image would be worthy of creating. He said: "Anyone can make a colorful image that people are impressed primarily by the colors, but the heart of the image may be lacking."

I also had taken 'old school' photo classes which were all in black & white because we developed and printed only b & w film. This built experiences of seeing the world and photography subjects in b & w. How to make a photograph interesting without colors.

With my image of Yosemite Falls I had originally shot it digitally in color then converted it to b & w - infrared with Photoshop Elements. The infrared approach makes for more contrast and turns sunlight skys to dark tones.

I also plan to make a slide-show in b & w only to push the button farther. Guess my poor family and friends are in trouble ?!

Anyway, thanks for commenting, and keep up the excellent postings,
Sincerely, cheers,
Photoray (Ray Anderson)

[Leconte]

thank you for your reply
I love black and white because I think the image goes to the essential, the colors remain in our imagination, I asked you the question because it is very rare to see a landscape on TE in black and white!
I never had the chance to enjoy photography class while I dreamed since childhood, and I bought my first camera Olympus OM10 with whom I made a lot of black and white, mostly portraits and then because it was cheaper, I loved the time to learn to develop them, and after my second Olympus, I have been slow to go digital
thank you for sharing and for your interesting comments,

Warm regards,
Valerie.