Saturday, July 4, 2015

Mountain Monochrome




The first image is a full-color image of the Alaskan Mountains. The second image is a duotone or black and white image of the same scene. You will have to click on the image to see both imags. To me, the first image looks "fake." Although the second image lacks the color of the first, it is the more believable image because we are used to seeing black and white images. The first image is not necessarily an accurate reproduction of what your eye might see if you were looking at the mountains, because you brain would compensate for any seemingly false colors and substitute what it expected to see. The camera cannot make those kinds of value judgments and just ends up reporting what it sees. Since the image is now not the "reality" of the actual scene, our eyes do not compensate for the differences in color and we see what the camera saw.

2 comments:

  1. Hello James,
    These 2 pictures are absolutely amazing. I especially love the black and white one which is just gorgeous. I'm currently working on a kind of "Christmas" project (yeah, in summer), and I would love to be able to use that picture in it.
    I'd like to know if you agree on people using it or not, as I don't want to offend anyone over there, but as I won't be able to see the Alaskan Mountains myself (I'm french), I hope you'd agree for sharing that wonderful view.
    Just let me know ! :)

    All the best,
    Léna

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    1. Sure, no problem, all I require is attribution (i.e. tell where you got the photo). Thanks for asking.

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