by successfulbob | black & white, fine art photography, landscape photography, people photography, photography, photography education
The Five day Black and White Challenge has been floating around the Internet for the last couple months. The basic premise is that a photographer will post a BW image everyday for 5 days at the same time inviting a new photographer each day to join in the challenge. After being tagged a couple times I jumped in… Here are the 5 black and white photos I posted with the comments. What I thought was going to be a PIA turned out to be pretty cool and I’ve been exposed to a lot of new black and white photography images as a result…
Day 1
This from Monument Valley and the box canyon. I like the Shadowed canyon wall, back
light on the horses and the settling dust that give this image it’s depth.
Day 2
Here’s an image captured on the streets of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His name is Doc and is a truly wonderful character. He was introduced to me by Dennis Chamberlain
Day 3
Scan from an image taken out of the darkroom soup almost 30 years ago… I sometimes wonder if the images we have on our computers will last as long as this. I was actually quite surprised by how much detail was still available. Print origin 1985.
Day 4
Day 4 came from Italy. BW really adds a timeless fell to this image allowing
all the shape, form and textures to shine through with no distraction from color…
Day 5
Repeating shapes, forms, tones and leading lines from this hilltop town in Tuscan region in Italy close out my 5 day challenge.
It’s always good to accept a challenge to push and get feedback on your image making skills. What have you done lately??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography education, photoshop tutorial
If you send out press releases or images for ads that will be appearing in newspapers I highly recommend a few steps to ensure that you get good looking images when the paper goes to print.
Eric Miller image converted to black and white using the LAB mode in Photoshop with a curves bump.
Number one – Do not send a color image unless it is possible the image is going to be printed in color. Many times in the newspaper world since they are on deadline and shorthanded the conversion from a color image to black and white is to desaturate the image. Period. There is no consideration for the tones or where they fall or what colors are going to come forward. I highly recommend using a method I have made with a Photoshop Action.
Convert the file to LAB Color Mode In the Channels Palette Select the B Channel and Delete it. Then Select and Delete Channel Alpha 2. Convert the file to Greyscale Mode. Convert the file to RGB Mode. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer. Pull down on the 3/4 tone and up on the 1/4 tone in the Curves Dialog box adding contrast to the image.
This makes for a pretty clean BW and with the Curves Adjustment Layer you can make changes to the highlights and shadows if necessary before saving the file. If you would like this action already complete rather than building it yourself send me an email and I’ll get it to you.
The other thing that will help your image stand out in newsprint is to sharpen your image until it almost looks too crunchy on your screen and when printed with the spread of ink it will be sharp in print. If an image is not ‘over sharpened’ this way the spread of ink will make it look soft. Here’s what I do…
Flatten the image. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask with these settings – Amount 500% Radius 1.7 Threshold 7. Your image will look frightening! Wait there’s more… Go to Edit > Fade Unsharp Mask Change the Mode to Luminousity and fade to 40% Opacity. Your image will look a bit sharp but will print beautifully on newsprint at these settings. Want that action? Email me.
Conversion and sharpening will make your images stand out from the rest…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, fine art portrait, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
As I was having lunch in Durango, Colorado I noticed the animation of our bartender. I explained that I was a photographer on a busman’s holiday and would she mind posing and giving me a few different expressions? She agreed. I had an image pop into my head that is like something below.
This is in process. Thoughts??
Adding some clouds…
Black and white version.
Feedback invited. Working title is ‘Three faces of Libby’.
Image captured with the Lumix GX7 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario lens. It’s a very compact camera that is not intimidating to those who you wish to be subjects on the fly…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, fine art photography, Lumix GX7, photography, photography education
Camera presets.
Never used them with any success before getting into the micro 4/3rds system with Panasonic Lumix cameras. I’m out on holiday in Santa Fe, New Mexico and putting the Lumix GX7 through it’s paces. One of my favorite presets is Illustrative Art. But, with a tweak. Turning it to black and white. It leads to a high contrast image with a bit of a glow on the highest contrast areas. Here take a look at these images…
Copper tanks at the Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery Restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Copper tank handle detail. Love the shape and form that comes forward using this technique.
Downtown Santa Fe door and wall with wall. Textures galore!
One thing to remember when using in-camera presets is to save images as a jpeg. I usually shoot in RAW plus jpeg so I can have the best of both worlds. If you only save in RAW you will see the processed black and white image on the back of your camera and upon download momentarily on your computer as the viewing jpeg info is stripped away leaving you only the RAW information.
Travel is a great way to get the creative juices flowing… When and where is your next road trip?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography education
Sometimes it takes more than one image to tell a story… So here are three that speak of an unusual intersection in Chicago during a photo walk at the Out of Chicago Conference…
A strong dark slight diagonal of the signal pole with signage shouts the beginning the story.
The crosswalk with with strong leading lines to a possible destination across the way… Lots of shapes and line to wander around in the image.
And the reason you might want to be sure to wait for the signal!
Images created with the Lumix GX7 and 12-35mm f2.8 Vario lens. Exposure 14mm f4 ISO 3200 1/50th sec. Camera set to Illustrative Art Mode pushed to black and white.
Think about creating stories in series with your image making… I could see these photos presented as a triptych.
Yours in Photography, Bob
