This is the number of "colours" (shades) in an 8-bit black and white photo!
Or in other words, this is the number of "steps" it takes to get from pure black to pure white in a greyscale image, since it contains 256 different intensities of black. Fascinating right?
It's no surprise then that a black and white photograph has the capacity to contain all the same depth, contrast, focus and, as a result, all the character of a colour photo...
All without the distraction of colour, giving these things that much more emphasis!
Below are a few of my favourites from this year; I took these photos in colour, converting
them to black and white, and then "developing" them in Photoshop to create nicely balanced images, emphasizing the atmosphere and character of each scene...
An unusually large dandelion, full of seeds, in west end Toronto's High Park; so heavy that the thick stem could barely keep it up. Captured during a brief moment between subtle gusts of wind, each ready to pick up one of the hundreds of seeds and carry it miles away...
Ridges of the French Alps at just below 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) altitude on a clear day in late winter. The bright sun was sending shadows off the jagged peaks, it was making the surrounding snow glow a brighter white, and it was lighting up the little flakes blown off the high rocks by the chilly breeze, making them sparkle while they twirled in the air like tiny pieces of silver confetti...
A baby squirrel peaking out from inside of a tree, just before his sibling raced up the trunk towards him, chasing him back inside and then straight back out, spiralling around the tree trunk at lightning speeds...