BLACK & WHITE: THE NEW COLORED

At the age of about ten, one of my hobbies was going through the family photo album; the thing fascinated me to say the least. On one occasion I remember coming across my mom’s portrait (a much younger version of her) the image was simply striking, and it was in black and white! I know we’ve all seen such monochromatic images, others we even can’t help but make fun of the ‘weird’ poses people made back then. Much of history and early human experiences have been recorded this way. In all these images color ceases to be the only main yardstick with which to judge a photo, other elements come to play; contrast, tone, texture, shape, form, even the shadows we so love to ‘kill’ make part of the story. Lou Jones rightly said it; black and white images force the viewer to concentrate on content, composition, or abstraction. One can achieve black and white images by using monochromatic films if SLRs are the camera choice. With DSLRs you can get B/W function in latest camera brands, the second option and which is recommended is to shoot your images in full color then post-process for black and white later using photo-editing software. To date, I still find black and white images remarkable just like I did when I was ten. My ultimate desire however, is to shoot a whole event in black and white! This wish came to pass... well, almost. In a wedding I covered, the bride and groom were daring enough to go with the idea of shooting some images in monochrome.    

After waiting for ‘ages’ we were finally allowed to go in and photograph the bridal party, who were having refreshments in readiness for the day.

            Camera - CANON EOS 7D
            Focal Length - 31mm
            Shutter Speed - 1/40 sec
            Aperture - f/4.6 

            ISO/Film - 2000
            Category - Wedding 
            Uploaded - June 20th 2013  
            Taken - June 1st 2013

            Location - Ruiru Town, Kenya
            Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi

Coffee was the number one choice for some

   Camera - CANON EOS 7D
   Focal Length - 72mm
   Shutter Speed - 1/60 sec
   Aperture - f/5.7 

   ISO/Film - 3200
   Category - Wedding 
   Uploaded - June 20th 2013  
   Taken - June 1st 2013

   Location - Ruiru Town, Kenya
   Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi
    

Not even my preying lens was going to stop a flower girl from downing her drink

The bride was not to be left out

            
            Camera - CANON EOS 7D
            Focal Length - 92mm
            Shutter Speed - 1/30 sec
            Aperture - f/5.7 

            ISO/Film - 3200
            Category - Wedding 
            Uploaded - June 20th 2013  
            Taken - June 1st 2013

            Location - Ruiru Town, Kenya
            Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi


 

       
      


      
      Camera - CANON EOS 7D
      Focal Length - 72mm
      Shutter Speed - 1/30 sec
      Aperture - f/5.7 

      ISO/Film - 3200
      Category - Wedding 
      Uploaded - June 20th 2013  
      Taken - June 1st 2013

      Location - Ruiru Town, Kenya
      Copyright - Stephen Mukhongi


 

 
 
 
                                                           (continued)