Bursts

I'm beginning to like how black and white pictures strip photography down to its basics - composition, form, tone. There's no hiding behind flashy colors or fancy post-processing. A photo either works or it doesn't. As I go through my photos choosing candidates for black and white conversion, I'm sadly finding photos that don't work in black and white. That only means that they don't work in color, either. Time for Mr. Delete Button to do his stuff.

This photo does a couple of things nicely. I like the complete range of tones from black to white throughout the picture. The photo also merges the natural sunburst created by sun and clouds with the technological sunburst of the sunlight bouncing, pinball style, off the many interior elements of the camera's lens. The act of photography itself is an imposition of the technological on the natural. Most times, the trick is to disguise the imposition as much as possible. Sometimes the trick is to embrace it.

Photo tip: When photographing the sky with a visible sun, meter on the sky above the sun with the sun just out of the viewing frame. Then recompose and shoot.

Click on this post's headline for image EXIF data. Click on pcture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.