Shot in black and white in natural light. Doing my own black and white theme for the month of April. Going back to class so to speak... My goal for this month is NOT to do "product" photography - I do NOT want my subject to look like it's floating in air on a washed out background. My goal is to maintain some detail in the background and still keep a good focus on my subject. It's much harder to do than I remembered!
The human eye can see about 30 shades of gray between black and white - forget about the infamous book, and an average RGB computer screen can detect 256 shades of gray which we can't see anyway. How many shades are there really? Only God knows!
Finding six white subjects was a chore for me! Off white or cream I have, but very little pure white subjects around the house. My black background is a shower curtain. I found that shower curtains make great backgrounds and they're real cheap! Pretend the furry things are tribbles! Ha ha! The trouble with the tribbles (intentional reference to a Star Trek episode) (white furry things) was losing the detail with more light. Will probably try reshooting this one since the tribbles are too gray for my taste. White on black seems to be the toughest one yet to maintain detail in the subject and the background.
What the eye perceives as black or white in a black and white image is a task - light, f-stop, ISO, focal length, etc. all play a role in the nearest to perfect image you can capture. Keeping detail in your subject and background along with the tones the eye perceives as black and/or white is NOT easy.
This is turning out to be an interesting re-learning experience. It really was an assignment for John Frair's class so many decades ago. God bless him! I would love a do-over in his class if he was still around.
1st week - only shades of gray in natural light - done
2nd week - black on white in natural light - done
3rd week - black on black in natural light - done
4th week - white on black in natural light
5th week - white on white in natural light
@milaniet You've done really well, Milanie! You don't need to think about it. Your black and whites are superior to most - I think! I have followed a few folks because I liked their black and white images and if I wasn't following you already - I'd surely follow you now. =)
I seriously thought those “tribbles” were alive. Kittens or hedgehogs or something. (Also, A+ Star Trek reference)
I see lots of nice depth here, and great details.
My eyes are seeing differently to yours. I find the tribbles to be very white and I see great detail in both them and the curtain. Thanks for the tip about using shower curtains as backgrounds
@njmom3 Very kind of you, Nada. Thank you!
I see lots of nice depth here, and great details.
@ludwigsdiana Thank you, Diana!
@kjarn Thank you, Kathy and you're welcome!