District of Columbia War Memorial Dome

Did you know that black-and-white images do not use the colors black and white?

Black-and-white photographs use shades of gray, otherwise called grayscale, to compose images. If the photograph was just black-and-white, it would look more like line art and its photo subjects would lack dimension and shadows.

Even though I love black-and-white photographs, I tend to keep most of my images in color. Gray-scaled images are interesting, but I find the color versions more appealing and honest.

For example, the colorlessness of today's photo of the dome of the District of Columbia War Memorial could make a great black-and-white photograph. However, I like the contrast and variation that even the little color present in the image creates for the viewer.