journal
B&W Rose
August 2, 2011

Here is an update to yesterday's macro image of a rose. I discussed my issues with black and white photography and its implications earlier last month and concluded that I would have to wait for an image that naturally contained enough character and contrast to be a black-and-white image. This rose is a colorful variant consisting of a yellow core and white petals edged with dark pink. The colors are brilliant, especially with the dark background, but due to the overwhelming yellow, the details seem to get lost.

I decided to experiment changing this to black and white through a simple desaturation. As expected, the loss of the yellow hue presented more details in the central petal structure. I was surprised to see additional butterfly-wing-like textures and delicate patterns of veins along the petals' surfaces that had previously been washed out. The dark pinks, now dark gray shades, provide a nice contrast to the previous yellows, now light gray shades. Let me know what you think.