I don’t know about you, but the transformation of luscious red strawberries into non-colour is more than a little disturbing. For one thing it’s challenging my atavistic hunter-gatherer impulse to be drawn to a much-loved, ripe and ready fruit. My hand is reaching out to pick even as I am anticipating the sweet juiciness on my tongue and the inevitable dribble down the chin.
But what am I to make of the monochrome fruit? At the moment I’m thinking not only do they NOT entice, but I would also give them quite a wide berth. I’m also thinking I could be onto a whole new weight-loss-fad – ‘The Monochrome Diet’ anyone?
copyright 2017 Tish Farrell
P.S. Many thanks to Paula at Lost in Translation for her intriguing ‘After and Before’ photo editing exercise. It throws up all sorts of perceptual conundrums.
Tish Farrell 
Hi Tish, on the Monochrome strawberries, for me, you need to take yourself out of photography mode, as well as delicious mode, and put yourself into the artistic mode. no the berries do not invoke taste bud delight in monochrome, however, when you look at them, you see the intricate details of the tiny seeds, the shapes almost geometric around each with in the body of the fruits. Also the eye is drawn to the graceful lines of the stems and caps and leaves within the picture.
I believe in monochrome, your eye see’s the grace and beauty in form. texture and structure, from an artist’s perspective, you have a work of art Tish! Wonderful. !! 🙂
For me in monochrome, you are forced to take out the sensory perception of taste, flavor, etc. and see what actually makes the strawberry, you see inward.
I like it Tish, wonderful! 🙂
That’s a v. excellent point, Mitch. Take one’s mind off the edible, and you do indeed see all the intricate detail with fresh eyes. Happy Sunday!
Thank you Tish, this is why when I have a photograph in Lightroom, in color, that sometimes just looks horrible no matter what adjustments you can do with it, never works out. Instead of scrapping it and deleting it, I will convert to monochrome.
It forces you to perceive the images lines, grace and form, rather than all the colors. It does not always work, but most of the time, you learn to look beyond, color and into form, structure and more into the intricate details behind the color. if that makes sense. 🙂
Makes perfect sense 🙂
I rather agree, Mitch!
Must say that I love it , too, just calling strawberries with a different name , maybe come from another planet……
You put your finger on it, Anna. Alien fruit.
No. Sorry. It just doesn’t work for me on ANY level. But a monochromatic diet might just work!
I’m almost sure it would 🙂
When it comes to food and diets, things are never quite black and white.
Oh, you! :O
I get the idea of details/textures/shapes/etc. being emphasized in B&W, but I have to stick with color for strawberries. 🙂
janet
As Janet says, it has to be colour for strawberries!
Strawberries look better in colour, they look a bit fake in mono.
Following the pack here, I think monochrome would work best on a cropped-in view so that it was less clear we were looking at strawberries. I think I’d be able to appreciate the texture and form more if my brain wasn’t trying to see the shape as fruit. Or maybe I just need breakfast 🙂
Black and white food is about as appealing to me as black and white flowers.
Agreed 🙂
Yes, the black and white is artistic but not appetizing. Which makes me think about people who are colour biind and the many issues associated with colour blindness http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/living-with-colour-vision-deficiency/
I was having the same thought as I wrote the post, trying to imagine a colour deprived/distorted world. The link article makes it all too clear.
😆 Wonderful, Tish. Monochrome diet could be a new fad :). It’s a shame that chocolate comes in sepia (almost) 😀
Oh dear, you’ve found the flaw, Paula. A very big flaw 🙂
😆 😉
I like the lighting in the black and white. It enhances the fruit, seed and all