Sometimes I find a scene that catches my fancy, although I presume it's the sort of personal fancy others may not share. White bowl. Black button. Window light.
Not a fan of B&W. but this subject is a good one for it if ever there was one, except for the gorgeous tone of the wood in the second.
They are slightly different size in presentation, but as far as I can see cropped the same. Yet the top one seems different. The bowl is more prominent. Maybe because of the brightness against a dark background. The top version bowl also has more details which help it to gain dominance over the rest of the elements.
This is not my genre, so I am giving a sort of laymans impression here.
Has an elegant, simple, direct Zen feel to it.
I think these are great, Karen.
To my surprise, I prefer the color. I think it gives greater richness, depth and you still have a near white, near black thing going with the main subject. I also love the softly crescented shadows in the bowl. Finally, there is a dreamy, almost cloudy sky feel to the wood grain.
This is stunning!
Ben, I made careful adjustments in Silver Efex Pro 2 to make the black and white version speak to emphasize the form and shapes. In the original, I tweaked the post processing to emphasize the color creaminess and texture contrast that caught my eye when I noticed how the sun hit the bowl. For the first few shots, not shown here, the light was at a slightly different angle that cast an asian yin/yang sort of shadow into the bowl and I repositioned the button to match. However, when I made the original captures I used a long lens and later decided to reshoot with a shorter lens. By then the movement of the sun lead to what I posted.
Thanks, Scott. When I saw the bowl and the light and shadows, the asian simplicity and aesthetic caught my eye. Glad I could convey that to you. Guess it was worth standing on the chair.
John Szarkowski, the former curator of photography at the NY Museum of Modern Art, once wrote that when you put a peanut in a matchbox, it becomes a sculpture. That is how I feel about the small black circle in the white bowl. There is a very pleasing ying and yang to this photo. Definitely prefer your black and white version which accentuates the sculptural aspects. One suggestion I might try: what about putting this on a lighter gray background than the almost black background you have. I wonder whether this would increase the 3 dimensional quality.
BTW, the black disk is a button I tossed into the bowl when I found it on the floor. Later I noticed how the sun shown and the table/bowl/button and had to capture it.
