Gallery: spring sunshine, but in monochrome?
It may seem contradictory, as we pass from winter to spring, to try to present that colourful season in black and white. Flowers are appearing, in shades of pink, yellow and more. Green leaves are sprouting on trees and bushes. Nature is coming to life in glorious technicolour!
But look more closely at our images of this season and we can see beyond the colours to the beautiful shapes and patterns of spring. So while it may seem odd to celebrate the coming of colourful spring in monochrome, by removing the colour our eyes are directed to focus instead on those aspects.
For Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge of ‘daylight in black and white’ this week I’ve trawled back through the past few years’ photos taken around this time of year and experimented with some black and white versions of spring flowers. And I make no apology for the large number of magnolia flowers; they are my favourites and they look great in monochrome!
As always, the edits were done using Silver Efex Pro. I hope you like them!
Blossom, March 2021
Magnolia, March 2019
Magnolia, March 2021
Magnolia, March 2014
Cherry blossom, March 2014
Tulips by the Thames, April 2019
Single tulip, April 2020
Narcissi, April 2018
Buttercup, April 2021
Wisteria, April 2019
Wisteria, May 2015
Dandelion clock, May 2020
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41 Comments
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Annie Berger
I was a little hesitant, Sarah, to ‘read’ this post after the title because I love the vibrant colors in your other posts that bring the images to life. However, I became drawn the more and more I ‘read’ the post with each B&W photo you captured as I could feel the texture of each flower and not simply admire the coloring as I’d normally do. Thanks for presenting another way for us to admire your work and to think of the inherent beauty in all objects.
Sarah Wilkie
That’s so nice to hear Annie 😊 I know not everyone is a fan of black and white photography, and although I am (both taking myself and viewing the work of others), I wasn’t sure how well a post about flowers would translate. I was quite pleased with the finished results so I’m really happy you liked them too!
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I. J. Khanewala
Beautiful. The sunlight is the star here, of course, with the way it brings out the textures. Special mention for the high key rhodos (?) of last year and the texture of wisterias of 2019.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much 🙂 You’re so right about the sunshine, and that’s exactly what I hoped to showcase! Those blossoms from last year are on a street tree near us which I suspect is an ornamental cherry. That’s one of my favourite shots in this set 😀
Marie
Wonderful – the dandelion clock gets my vote!!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Marie – it’s so interesting how different people have different favourites! You’re the first to pick out that one 😀
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Christie
Black and white are giving an exquisite, unique look. Although I love to see more colour at this time of the year (here😉) it is nice to play around with pictures, I love Magnolia, they look terrific in monochrome!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Christie 🙂 I love magnolia too and they are so sculptural they look great in B&W, but I must post some colour images some time soon too!
sunnydaysinseattle
Greart emphasis on textures and light and shadow!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, I’m happy that came through as I was aiming to showcase it!
Smitha V
Your monochrome shots are glorious, Sarah. I looked at each one thinking, ‘This is perfect to practice sketching and shading from.’ I loved the cherry blossom first, magnolia, tulip second and I can’t decide among the rest.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you so much 😊 I don’t sketch but I can sort of see what you mean about shading practice!
Smitha V
I’m going to use these shots to work on my sketching. You can see each vein in each petal in your shots. I don’t get clear pictures to draw from easily. These are great. Thanks Sarah for these photographs.💕
Sarah Wilkie
Ooh yes, please do. And maybe share the results if you’re happy with them?
Smitha V
😊If it turns right, I’ll definitely share it❤
salsaworldtraveler
Very pretty monochrome shots!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 🙂
Kirstin
Those are stunning. I could see a gallery wall with all of these on them.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Kirstin, I really appreciate that lovely compliment 😊
Heyjude
Sorry, my comment ended up under Terri’s. That’s what happens when using a phone!
Sarah Wilkie
No worries, I found it!
Manja Maksimovič
As I know you know, this post is a little bit like murder of colours for me. 😉 But I like many of these, especially the magnolias.
Sarah Wilkie
Haha, ‘murder of colours’ – I get that, as of course the beauty of those colours is removed, but I believe in doing so another beauty emerges and I’m glad you saw that in the magnolias 😀
kzmcb
I really like the first blossom, glowing in daylight.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – that’s just the effect I was looking for!
bushboy
Another bunch of wow flowers Sarah, so good in monochrome. Beautifully presented as well 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Brian, I really appreciate the feedback on the presentation as well as the photos 😀
maristravels
Top marks for composition, top marks for being enterprising but I’m not not convinced that I wouldn’t have preferred to see these in colour. The cherry blossom one is really lovely but I would have loved to have seen and felt the velvety petals of the others which is only apparent, to my eyes, in colour. But as I said, top marks for your enterprising spirit and for the brilliant composition.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Mari – I do know what you mean, although I think I may have shared a number of these in colour previously and no doubt the others will appear in due course, for future spring time challenges!
margaret21
These certainly work well. I particularly like the statuesque quality of the narcissi.
Cee Neuner
Beautiful spring sunshine in all your flowers 😀 😀
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Cee, I’m glad the sun shone through despite the monochrome tones 😀
Susanne Swanson
Well done! The images are so beautiful!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Susanne 🙂
Terri Webster Schrandt
Wow, Sarah, your gallery of B&W blossoms is beyond stunning! I love magnolia blossoms (not much around here) and always took pics of them when living in Sacramento. You are right that we want to celebrate the longer days with color, but why not be challenged? And boy did you deliver! The composition of the cherry blossom is my fave! All wonderful!
Sarah Wilkie
Oh, thanks so much Terri, I’m really glad you liked these!
Heyjude
The magnolia and the blossom photos work well for me because of the plain backgrounds which show off the shapes so well. The others less so. And tulips and wisteria just have to be in colour, although tulips also can look great in b&w as they too have good shapes. Bravo for the gallery!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback Jude. I confess I was in two minds about the wisteria myself but in the end decided to include it. I agree it doesn’t work quite as well as the more sculptural shapes but I felt it made an interesting contrast to them.