By muting the colours, one cannot help but focus on the boy’s sparkly eyes.

By JASON LIOH
alltherage@thestar.com.my
I LOVE it when my photos have vibrant and bright colours. There is something about the colours that “pop” that brings out the happy and cheerful feeling just by looking at the photograph.
However, there are times when too many colours spoil the picture.
I am not a big fan of Instagram-like photos but every now and then, I too convert my photos into black and whites to bring out a different feeling than a colour photograph would.
Black and white photos are often used to enhance the subject’s emotion or feeling.
This photography method is often used at weddings, where lots of activities take place, and the photographer wants the viewer to focus on the action or emotions showed by a teary-eyed mother, a happy father, a nervous bride or an energetic groom. All these emotions are easily portrayed in photographs especially when the viewer is not distracted by colours and has to focus on the subject alone.

The lighting at the famous mural on Armenian Street is really bad at night, but converting the photo into a black and white image makes it work.

Timelessness is also another reason why black and white photos are so popular. Do you remember any photographs that your parents or grandparents showed you? They may have turned yellowish from the moisture over the years but the picture itself is timeless and will always bring back some nostalgic memories.
That is the power which a black and white photo holds when executed right. While photographers prefer a noiseless photo by using low ISO speed, there are times when you have to bump up your ISO speed just to get the shot at the expense of image quality. One way to overcome this is by turning your photo into black and white shots. The noises are turned into fine grains which will make the photograph look grittier and with some “essence”.
If your photo is ruined because of a wrong colour profile choice or white balance, turning them into black and white photos is one way to save your photos instead of having them deleted.
However, this method will only work if you have nailed the shot and are not trying to salvage a badly taken photo.

A moment of hesitation captured as a man ponders over his next move in a game of chess.

However, post processing your photos into black and white is also not as simple as clicking on a few tabs in Adobe Photoshop. It takes a little bit of know-how to choose the right tone for a good photo.
More importantly, there is no the perfect BW photo as it depends on the subject, lighting and exposure. It is very subjective and you have to play by ear to get the right black and white photo.