Saturday, June 22, 2013

The Artist's Palette

So I have been thinking about how I choose the way to render
a scene that I decide to photograph.  It is a bit like how the
artist chooses his palette - sometimes an artist will choose
warm colors, or cool colors for his scene.  For me the main
choice has always been between color and black & white.
But for the time being I now have the additional choice of
infrared to choose from.  It is not a simple decision - it
depends on the subject, and it definitely depends on the tones
within the scene, and on the lighting that is present.
So here are two different subjects photographed several 
different ways, so you can see the differences in rendering.

This is a black and white rendering

This is the color rendering

And this is the infrared rendering.

My sense of this scene is that it works pretty well in all three
renderings.  That is not the case with this second subject.

This is the black & white rendering.  The dark leaves
blend into the dark color of the building and are lost.

This is the infrared version, and the leaves jump out
in the photograph because they are white and the 
building is dark.  This is my favorite version of this
photograph

And this is the color version, and it is relatively
unremarkable.  I think it is better than the black & white
version, however.

I hope you find these comparisons interesting.




4 comments:

  1. Thank you for showing the 3 comparison photos of each subject. It is amazing to look at the variations and appreciate each one.
    Joan

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  2. I have a dilema! I am a jackleg amateur pic taker so who am I to take a different point of view from a very experienced professional photographer. I prefer the color image in the first series because the light coming in from the right is more intense and the white-white woodwork seems more striking than gray-white tones. As for the second set, I seem to be drawn to the contrast of the red fire hydrant, which may be a visual distraction - but I like it. Therefore, for the second set: 1) color, 2) B&W, 3) infrared. For a spectacular infrared photo; go to the June 18th blog shot of trees along Prospect Avenue!!!

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  3. It is interesting to see the comparison. Just my opinion but I like the colored one, especially with the lighting. To me, it appears to show depth. The infrared doesn't quite look real. I thought it looks more like a setting in a sci-fi movie. Trace

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  4. First set of pics with door - I like the color version the best. Second set of pics - I like the middle, last and then the first. There seems to be more contrast in the infrared than the black & white. bsk

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