It does matter, seeing it in black and white

Reader-photographers capture ‘black and white’ for the Facebook Picture Competition theme in January 2018

FIFTH

There’s a timeless quality to black and white photography. But not every photograph works well in monochrome. The stark beauty of the super blue blood moon that UAE residents saw on January 31, for instance, had the perfect tonal contrast for a monochrome photograph. But that contrast would be lost in a picture that’s meant to revel in its colours, such as in an image of people celebrating the festival of colours, Holi, in India.

Without colour to guide the viewer’s eye, light and shadow become more obvious, and

THIRD photographers have to look for interesting textures, curious shapes or expressive people to get the best out of their photograph.

Our reader photographers took up the challenge, as part of January’s Facebook Picture Competition theme: Black and white.

We posted the editor’s pick of top five images on Gulf News’ Instagram page and asked our followers to vote for the picture that they thought best captured the theme.

The picture competition was also, as usual, opened to voting by our Facebook and Instagram readers, and they hit the ‘like’ button on the picture they preferred. Here, we present the winners with the most votes.

Editor’s note: If you would like to participate, log on to Gulf News’ Facebook page and send in your submission for February’s Facebook Reader Picture Competition.

Febin Thomas took his winning picture at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. He said: “I saw two gentlemen admiring a sculpture, and since their light clothes and the white sculpture contrasted with the black wall, it created the perfect black-and-white photograph.”...

For Mike Hook, nothing says monochrome better than the natural print of a zebra. He said: “I took this photograph at Kruger National Park in South Africa, when I saw two zebras playing. I was on safari during an early-morning drive in the bush.” His...