Black and White Photograph



As Rob Sheppard said, “Good black and white photography is not about the removal of colour!” Seeing photographs in black and white helps you to notice the details of the photograph that was once overlooked when the photo was in colour.

My inspiration for this photo came from my love of light and fire. In this shot I positioned my model in front of a white piece of cloth that I suspended from my roof. I used side lighting from my bedroom window for this shot and for my subject matter I used my mother because the colour of her black hair contrasted nicely with the white sheet and the sparkler. The reason for me using the sparkler as the main focus for my photo is because it reminded me of my childhood also because of the free movement of the sparks. I also chose this photo because I think the shadows in the photograph add a mysterious mood to the photo as half of my models face is hidden by the shadow and the other half by the sparkler almost as if the two elements are trying to hide her identity from the world. I made sure that my model was wearing dark clothes so that it wouldn’t take the focus away from the sparkler. I also found it fascinating that when I converted my photo to black and white that the red / orange colour of the sparkler’s sparks went completely white in colour.

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