Blooming in the rain-yellow hibiscus in black and white

Black and white brings out the texture of the petals and the raindrops. Processed using the GIMP's built in color to gray and desaturation filters. — Black and white yellow hibiscus.

Black and white brings the raindrops into focus. Black and white created using the GIMP's desaturation and color to gray filters. — Even with the color removed this flower still shines.

Normally the yellow hibiscus, Hawai’i’s state flower, is an explosion of color. I photographed these on a rainy day at the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu. I thought I’d see how these translated into black and white.

For all of these I used the GIMP’s built-in filters: desaturation and color-to-gray. I layered the color-to gray on top using the soft light blend mode. If you are interested in learning more about black and white processing in the GIMP: Black and white digital photo processing using the GIMP.

For The Weekend in Black and White, and Cee’s Flower of the Day.

I prefer these photos in black and white. With the color removed I think the texture of the petals and the raindrops show up better.