{"id":11201,"date":"2022-10-28T16:19:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T21:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/?p=11201"},"modified":"2022-10-28T16:19:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T21:19:32","slug":"photo-friday-the-bw-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2022\/10\/28\/photo-friday-the-bw-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo Friday: The B&#038;W Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_Fuller\">Samuel Fuller<\/a> (1912&#8211;1997) was an American film director, among other pursuits, whose specialty was [mostly] low budget movies, [often] shot in black and white. His quote at the top of the page is the inspiration for this post.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve always had a fondness for black and white photography. Color can sometimes distract or detract from the drama in a scene, whereas a black and white photo (or grayscale, to use another term) might direct the viewer&#8217;s eye to what&#8217;s most important, or help the photographer to set the intended mood for the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s not always the case, of course; not every photo &#8212; or even most of them &#8212; are improved by converting them to black and white. What follows are a series of my photos that I present in both forms, and I&#8217;ll leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide which alternative you prefer. (Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section at the end.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Please note that the last two photos below are of a non-venomous snake&#8230;if that&#8217;s something you&#8217;d rather avoid, I&#8217;ll give you the chance to bail out.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"quote\">Technical note: All of the following black and white images were created via a Mac-only desktop application called <a href=\"https:\/\/skylum.com\/tonality\">Tonality<\/a>. Tonality provides a mind-boggling number of effects and options for processing images. Unfortunately, as far as I can determine, Tonality is no longer available for purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"108\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/divider.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10399\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Three Deer at Sunset<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/deeratsunset_color.jpg\" alt=\"Color photo: Three whitetail deer backlit against a setting sun filtered through the trees\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 1em;\" \/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/deeratsunset_bandw.jpg\" alt=\"Grayscale photo: Three whitetail deer backlit against a setting sun filtered through the trees\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Honeybee Jazz Quintet<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/honeybeejazz_color.jpg\" alt=\"Color photo: Jazz quintet playing at night\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 1em;\" \/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/honeybeejazz_bandw.jpg\" alt=\" Jazz quintet playing at night\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Praying Mantis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/mantis_color.jpg\" alt=\"Color photo: Praying mantis\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 1em;\" \/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/mantis_bandw.jpg\" alt=\"Grayscale photo: Praying mantis\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Buzzards in the Clouds<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/buzzardsandclouds_color.jpg\" alt=\"Color photo: A group of flying buzzards in a partly cloudy sky\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 1em;\" \/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/buzzardsandclouds_bandw.jpg\" alt=\"Grayscale photo:  A group of flying buzzards in a partly cloudy sky\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dramatic Sunset<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/sunset_color.jpg\" alt=\"Color photo: Dark storm clouds, the tops of which are glowing in the sunset\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 1em;\" \/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/sunset_bandw.jpg\" alt=\"Grayscale photo: Dark storm clouds, the tops of which are glowing in the sunset\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"108\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/divider.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10399\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s the notice I promised&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"497\" height=\"344\" src=\"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/snakeclipart.png\" alt=\"Derpy snake clipart\" class=\"wp-image-10271\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/snakeclipart.png 497w, https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/snakeclipart-300x208.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"108\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/divider.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10399\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Snake Viewed from Above<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/pbws1_color.jpg\" alt=\"Color photo: Harmless plainbellied water snake viewed from above\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 1em;\" \/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/pbws1_bandw.jpg\" alt=\"Grayscale photo: Harmless plainbellied water snake viewed from above\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Snake Viewed at Eye Level<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/pbws2_color.jpg\" alt=\"Color photo: Harmless plainbellied water snake facing the camera\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: 1em;\" \/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/images\/miscphotos\/pbws2_bandw.jpg\" alt=\"Grayscale photo: Harmless plainbellied water snake facing the camera\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Black and white photography can sometimes turn a rather mundane subject into something dramatic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photography","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/samuelfullerquote.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11201"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11210,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11201\/revisions\/11210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}