TOUCH OF COLOR
A favorite photographic technique of mine is to add (through the magic of Photoshop) a touch of the underlying color from a picture I’ve otherwise converted to black & white. The technique works best when the spot of color calls the viewer’s attention to a significant aspect of the photo – as with that adorable child in the above scene.
Even where the coloration is just playful, it does catch the eye and engage your attention – and, after all, isn’t that what a photos is supposed to do? These flames can be colorful, and they do stand out – even if their reflected image doesn’t, and the rest of the room is in
prosaic black & white.
Here, we switched it around. Now it’s the reflected image that carries the color while seeming to reflect the actual black & white flames.
(My valued associate does much of the Photoshop work involved here –
thanks so much, Raymond!).
This scene, and that of the two to follow were all part of a recent architectural exhibit titled “Swimmers” which was featured on the crossings of Manhattan’s Park Avenue South.
Now, we shifted away from the flames and focused on what’s really important in this cocktail lounge – the booze up above.
Here’s a closer view of another swimmer that further humanizes the
subject matter . . . .
The subject matter of this black & white photo is bizarre enough –
so I added an extra fillip by giving the taxi back its original yellow hue.
. . . and the color here enables this one to stand out from the
gray surroundings.
Switching now to a real animal, nothing catches the eye more than the top third of a giraffe . . .
. . . so you need a touch of color to direct your attention to the giraffe’s seemingly minuscule emu buddy.
A rooster is ready made for this technique . . .
. . . especially when he’s chanting, “I’m ready for my close-up,
Mr. DeMille.”
This ersatz snake takes color precedence over its zoo surroundings . . . .
. . . but out in the open, it’s better to focus on the boy who’s ignoring the looming dinosaur.
It would just be a shame to mask in gray
the lovely exterior of this fetching fish.
Here we have a sturdy pony and a looming handler, so my job was to get you to focus on the uneasy rider.
There’s a lot of animal flesh and fencework in this one; but the only thing that matters is what’s going on at the very top-left corner, which deserves a touch of color to grab your attention.
This unusual zoo setting calls out for the technique. Here, the prairie dog is ignoring the little girl, so she deserves our attention . . . .
. . . Now the animal seems to notice this girl, but she prevails and he’s still without any color . . . .
. . . So now we switch the last shot and give the little guy back
his coloration.
In my household, the only animals that really matter are canines; and so this dog walker's gang just had to be colorized.
Adding color to both the dog and its walker sets up a neat contrast to the gray of the other twosome alongside.
That’s my wife Barbara digging out after a CT storm – but why? Oh, of course, it’s to make a path for one of her trusty color-coated doggies who needs some exercise.
The touch of color technique works well on a sign, when
you want to emphasize the object of the photo – as here,
on the Coney Island boardwalk . . . .
. . . or here, outside one of Manhattan’s most venerable eateries.
The stripes and stars of Old Glory are a natural for coloration, as here with the D.C. replica of our marines on Iwo Jima.
Here’s a more subtle treatment of the flag, both on the left and in smaller intervals across the horizontal axis.
This is a closeup of the bottom tenth of the Washington Monument, bedecked with colored reminders of what country’s capital we are in.
I didn’t want there to be any doubt that this commemoration scene was taking place at Washington’s Vietnam memorial.
Sticking with D.C., the Lincoln Memorial serves as a formidable
black & white backdrop for the colorful visitors.
This photo may not say much, but you have to admit the touch of color catches the eye.
Here’s my son Erik, listening in as General Dwight Eisenhower addresses the troops about to land in Normandy on D-Day.
One more use of color is in a bleak cemetery, where there are bound to be a few individual memorial flags.
Now we’re up in CT, and these Westport scullers deserve to be singled out.
My good friend and neighbor, artist Carol Eisner, sprinkles her colorful sculptures all over her garden.
This would be a pretty good black & white photo with just the hammock and grass – but the colorful chairs do give it a definite boost.
Winter is a little bleak in Manhattan’s Carl Schurz Park, but this family going up the steps give the scene a needed jolt.
Then, when others come down, it’s already Spring.
And then it’s summer – time for a siesta . . . .
. . . and also produced this good scene to use the technique on.
We’re in Central Park now, and just for kicks I’ve decided to emphasize the shadow of the bridge rather than the bridge itself.
Over the years I’ve been involved with various activities our Princeton alumni class of ’56 engages in. A few decades ago, I sponsored a photo trip to Central Park for a Brooklyn high school class – a primer on how to use the little point-and-shoot cameras we distributed to them. Here’s the group at the Park’s memorial to John Lennon.
This Brooklyn youngster found a new level from which to shoot . . . .
. . . and this couple were just having fun.
But I did find time to do some instructing, and later enlarged each kid’s best work for a montage that hung in the school.
When I took my sons to Atlantic City for a weekend, the three of us donned caps in front of the hotel’s hat emporium.
Speaking of Atlantic City, I recalled a wonderful brunch we had there and just couldn’t resist coloring the delicious bacon – but there’s no deep message intended here.
For years now, I’ve been wearing a baseball cap that says “ndy” on the front, which stands for “not done yet” (printed on the back). Here the boys borrowed my cap for this statue in the hallway of the Atlantic City hotel.
In case you might miss her among the California red woods, that’s my wife Barbara in her natural tones . . . .
. . . . and you can also pick Barbara out at her recent high school reunion in Rocky Mount, N.C.
Although uninvited, I started playing the piano at the restaurant where we were dining in North Carolina, The owner liked the idea and decided to take my picture, so Barbara took him taking my picture, and we colored the pianist so you’d know who it was.
Speaking of music, that’s my long-time friend and accompanist on bass, skilled professional Dmitri Kolesnik, with the hands that make his fine work possible earning the coloration.
As for me, I’m the guy in our class jacket, marching in the parade at a recent Princeton reunion.
This was from a recent big birthday for me, taken while I was still able to blow out the candles.
And I’ll close with the subject matter I began with – only here, it's two delightful youngsters getting together in Central Park.