15 winter etudes in black and white

Hi dear friends. Today’s post is not a longread, quite on the contrary; however, it took me a long time to create this selection of #streetphoto, and most of the time was spent on processing. My studies (again) were about the black-and-white conversion and comparing #colour and #monochrome approach, to see what works better for different cases.

Seven photos, fifteen pictures. All of the photos are mine, taken with 50mm or 16-35mm lens this winter. And yeah, there will be a lot of snow inside, you are warmly welcomed to enjoy this delicasy! As you know, I always appreciate a lot comments about choosing your favourites. Please, do spend a few minutes to share your opinion,-- what worked best for you.

Snow works as a universal denominator and equalizer - it erases reality surrounding us, masks many things and simplifies the frame content in a most minimalistic manner. Excessive stuff is thrown out from the frame "by default", leaving in focus very few things you found important. This car wheel is 3/4 covered with snow. Picturesque? Yes! Although usually - gues you will agree with me - it is not the most interesting stuff to look at. The magic of snow minimalism.

Снег работает как универсальный деноминатор - стирает окружающую реальность, маскирует множество вещей и упрощает построение кадра. Лишние вещи отрезаны и выброшены из кадра, остается сфокусироваться на том, что показалось вам интересным. Колесо машины на 3/4 занесенное снегом. Живописно? Да! Хотя обычно, согласитесь, не самая интересная вещь для разглядывания.

Snow gives unusual shapes to ordinary things. And we don't need color here to get visual pleasure from looking at whimsical unusual shapes.

Снег придает необычную форму обычным вещам, и здесь нам не нужен цвет, чтобы получить визуальное удовольствие от разглядывания прихотливых форм.

Sometimes color even does the opposite: distracts from the main idea.

Winter cycling can be a serious challenge, as you can see in the frame above.

Neon fairy-tale carriage.... as a selfies photo-booth. Which version would you prefer? Here I strongly go after B-W.

But the impression changes when we have a beautiful color. Low-contrast, soft pastel light can provide more value to a photo than fancy monochrome patterns and textures.

At a skating ring. Snow hills at the front does look attractive...

But this is where I definitely prefer color version to the monochrome one.

Snowy bridge captured under a cloudy grey sky and diffuse light.

And a monochrome version. Which one would you prefer? In my opinion, both are in their own right, here I really cant make a pick!

Man and his dog, and some nice eye contact I've caught here?

I guess this one is about self-explanatory. When you have got grey skies and poor lighting, resulting in dirty and un-appealing colours, objects, landscapes, Monochrome conversion is a way to go. Check, how did this solution work for this certain plot.