Monochromatic Images

20160108

A monochromatic image is composed of a gradient of a single color, and has an emphasis on contrast, texture and composition.  

The link B&W Conversion, Notes on contains two documents providing guidance for developing post-processed monochromatic photos rather than relying upon in-camera-processed photos. 

1. "Taylor, David - Black & White Photography,"and
2. "Black & White Conversion via Lightroom." 

The first document summarizes Part 3 of David Taylor's "Black & White Photography," which is available at the Fairfax County Public Library.  Taylor provides detailed guidelines for using the features of Lightroom to convert color images into many B&W forms. 

The other document contains brief technical info that helped me understand the B&W conversion process, including methods to create what I call multichromatic images, which leave hints of the original image's colors.  In the photo "Cross Cottage at Mason Pond" the original color of the leaves has been teased forth from the mostly desaturated image.  

Cross Cottage at Mason Pond

Monochromatic techniques used on Cross Cottage (above) solarize the image, desaturate the house, and, using filtering techniques, leave a hint of green.