60 NZPhotographer
Mind Games:
The Art of Black
and White
by Ana Lyubich
Thinking of the colour wheel, black and white are
lovers rather than neighbours. They are the complete
opposite of each other yet are the only 2 colours on
the wheel that can work together to create a stunning
and memorable masterpiece on their own.
However, how many of us consciously choose our
colour palettes or white balance offset ahead of time
to create a certain mood in our photo? More likely
you turn a photo to black and white when you realise
“Oh, this photo has too much noise, let’s see how it
looks if we convert it into black & white... oh yeah...
better!”STEERING THE CONVERSATION
Some people say that photography is a conversation
between the photographer and the viewer. I’d say it’s
a monologue.
As a photographer, especially in our digital era, you
can’t see viewers’ reaction when they see your photo
and you can’t hear what they say most of the time.
Basic comments on social media don’t make it a
“conversation”.
Communication through photography is one-sided
and absolutely based on the visual aspect, this is why
it’s important to structure and create our photographs
in such a way that it generates the “right” response
when we publish our work.HUMAN PERCEPTION
Opting to remove colour from a photograph is a
brave and bold choice.
When we look at colour photos, we subconsciously
make our own judgements based on what we
see and how it makes us feel, what emotions we
experience. We can see whether the photo is a sunset
or sunrise, how it is processed, whether the colours are
oversaturated or faded, whether they make us feel
warm or cold. We can guess which season the photo
was taken in because we can see certain things in the
photo (colours of tree leaves for instance) and make
an association.
Black and white images are timeless. Removing
colour makes it much more difficult to put a date onthe photo but at the same time can evoke a much
stronger emotion.
Don’t forget that black and all shades of grey are
considered to be the colours of depression. There
have been numerous studies showing that people
who post black and white images on social media
(and by the way, according to a different study, black