ReNude

The reductive drama conveyed by b+w only works when it’s integral to a successful composition. Experienced artists can intuit when b+w best serves their vision. This sui generis genre strips away distractions and focuses on the timeless essence of any given subject, particularly when the subject is itself a confluence of light and shadow, contrasts and shapes, all together composed within a graphical, two-dimensional frame. Since the advent of digital capture, “post-processing” conversions to b+w from color is unavoidable. Photographers must learn to THINK in b+w, using their mind’s eye as a filter to eliminate color with foreknowledge of what the final image will look like. This is how Ansel Adams elevated the medium of b+w photography itself, by codifying this technique and calling it the Zone System, pre-visualizing nine shades of gray, a graduated scale between absolute black at one extreme and white at the other, to convey a scene. What matters most is that the choice of b+w is intentional from the outset—never an afterthought. The medium must make, not merely enhance, the subject and the overall impact of the image. As for color, it’s never a question of one or the other.