Hello and welcome back!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful relaxing holiday and shared time with friends and family.
This week is the last story of 2017 and part two of the story we started December 17 all about black and white wildlife photography.
In part one of this story we looked at how stripping away the colour from a wildlife image can help focus the viewers attention on the subject, particularly if the subject is the lightest or darkest part of the image.
One of the other reasons I might choose to display an image in black and white is to simplify the colour scheme. If there is a busy background or a lot of colours that are distracting the eye from the subject sometimes stripping the colour can help draw attention back to the animal and eliminate visual clutter. This can sometimes work if I have an overly bright background or a very busy one like a leafy tree or ripples on water.
Stripping the colour can also highlight the patterns of light in an image drawing attention to the shadows and shapes. Sometimes there is just not a lot of colour in an image or environment. If the colour contrast isn’t strong but the value contrast is, stripping back to a black and white image can create a much stronger composition. This is often the case shooting in the subarctic where the subtlety of colour and light can be difficult to capture.
We are so used to seeing everything in colour; photos, advertisements, magazines, signs, and Instagram posts, black and white images can stand out simply by NOT being in colour. I find I can sometimes draw attention to an image and the story I’m trying to tell by stripping away the colour and leaving behind just the “outline”. Often the simple narrative black and white image is reminiscent of newspaper images and documentary story-telling that the story becomes more important than a colourful aesthetic.
I hope you enjoyed this two part story on shooting black and white wildlife photography. If you are a photographer I hope you will try to see the wilderness in black and white once in a while. The results can be both surprising and inspiring.
Thank you all for your support this year. I look forward to writing more and sharing more and wish everyone a safe and happy new year!