Tip of the Day – New Orleans in Black and White

 

French Quarter Residences (23 May 2012)

With Hurricane Isaac hovering over my old home town AND on the very date Katrina nearly destroyed this city seven years ago, it’s only right to pause on the state houses and Dead Presidents and use this wonderful locale to illustrate a tip.  When I started taking pictures, way back in the last century, black and white film was the standard.  Color was a rare extravagance.  Today, you can hardly find a camera store that sells film but you can still make black and white images...and I believe we should.

In May, we drove to Louisiana so I could bowl like crap in the United States Bowling Congress national tournament.  It’s an annual tradition of mine to do well at home and stink up the joint on the big stage.  After bowling in Baton Rouge, we spent a few days in New Orleans in a friend’s condo in the French Quarter...a block off Bourbon Street.  We lived in the city for 15 years and, apart from a rare hotel sleepover, never stayed overnight in this historic district.  

Gas Light on Wall that Discourages Scaling (21 May 2012)

The Quarter is the first area of the city that was settled by French colonists in 1718.  The natural levee formed by the Mississippi River was attractive because the high ground is flood resistant and the location a hundred river miles from the mouth provided a buffer from the storms that come off the Gulf of Mexico.  In 2005, when the inadequate infrastructure failed and 80% of the city was under water, the French Quarter remained relatively dry.

One great part about sleeping in the Quarter (It’s certainly not the sleeping part since there can be loud, stumbling, fighting, puking revelers on the street at all hours) is being able to get up at dawn and walk the quiet streets to seek images in this old, European-like setting.  There are fewer cars and hardly any people.  Even in the heat of the summer, the early mornings can be pleasant.

The Neighbor’s Corner Balcony (22 May 2012)

On March 21, 2011, I posted my ‘Rule Number One’...as we did with film, always take the best digital picture with the camera and don’t get into the habit of fixing things later on the computer.  I guess every rule has exceptions.  Some cameras have a setting that will produce a black and white image.  However, I agree with Julie Adair King.  In her book, Shoot Like a Pro!, she explains that it’s much easier to convert a color image to black and white with editing software.  Plus, we have more control over the various tones of red, green and blue when we create monochrome images after the fact.  Finally, it makes sense to start with and retain the original color image.  Converting a black and white image to color is arduous, time consuming and certainly not the thing a color blind, computer incompetent like me wants to attempt.

The black and white images on this page were made with one click of a mouse.  With the program I have, an old version of the little-used Corel Paint Shop Pro, the conversion is easily done by clicking “Image” on the menu bar and then “ Greyscale”.   With Photoshop CS5, which I own but have yet to master, one goes to the menu bar, clicks “Image / Adjustments / Black & White”.  You can alter the various color intensities but the default setting works fine for me.  

As I said, I’m color blind.  Not totally...just reds and greens are not so well perceived.  Sometimes, my idea of color correction does not improve an image, especially when people are the subject.  That’s one thing that makes black and white images so appealing.  They are just about composition, lines, shapes, light and shadows.  Watch a classic, old movie.  Color is not what makes the picture.  The staging and location of light can produce riveting images and scenes.

When I’m shooting in a place that’s old and historic, the subject lends itself to this older style representation.  Many buildings in the Quarter are 150-200 years old...and the newer ones are required to look the same way.  A sepia or black and white image suggests it could have been made long ago.  Of course, it helps even more if you can exclude autos, satellite dishes and other signs of modernity.  Check the first photo again and note the motorcycle behind the lamp post is an unfortunate presence in the otherwise, historic-looking scene.  Conversely, the sepia below looks like it could be an old daguerreotype of a 19^th century Paris street.  Makes me want to return to Charleston or Prague or even New Orleans again...after it dries out.

St. Louis Street, 21 May 2012