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Post by thill25 on Feb 4, 2011 14:45:13 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 4, 2011 15:37:01 GMT
Wow, Thill ~~ what excellent photographs! I love the angle and focus/unfocus of the barbed wire, the bleak sense of lost time in the truck picture, and that last, wonderful momento mori pic, all in such rich black & white.
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Post by thill25 on Feb 4, 2011 17:12:45 GMT
Thanks again! ;D These were taken a few weeks after I'd gotten my LX3. Hard to imagine that these came out of a camera that you can put in your jacket pocket. I think that barbed wire pic is still one of my personal favorites.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 14, 2011 22:33:40 GMT
I'm feeling all Ansel Adams-y, as we have a stunning exhibit of 130 of his images at our local art museum. I couldn't find a thread devoted to black and white photos, so am starting one. Others feel free to add yours. Topic doesn't matter here, just that it is a B/W image that you like. On my last hike I played around with my camera settings and took a few in black and white. Here's one: My camera and or software isn't sophisticated enough to eliminate the burnt out area at the top of the stump, but I'm pleased with the detail in the lower half of the frame and on the bark of the tree at right. I also like the little plant in the dark hollow of the roots. Some cameras have settings to actually take pictures in B/W, sepia too, while others only shoot color, but you can use photo editing software to change it to black and white and play with contrast and brightness, too. (Rikita has some stunning images in black and white on other Image Bank threads. She takes them in color and edits the color out.)
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Post by Kimby on Oct 14, 2011 22:59:24 GMT
A speaker from the Rocky Mountain School of Photography spoke at the Art Museum last week about Ansel Adams and his "zone system" of photography. If you imagine the blackest black as 1 and the whitest white as 9, going from 1 to 9 would take you from black through shades of gray to white.
Ansel Adams would use a light meter to test various areas of his photographic subject and would set the shutter speed so as to capture detail in the darkest areas that he wanted to be able to see detail in. Zone 3 = dark with detail. By exposing for these specific dark areas, that information would be on the negative.
Then when he printed the photo using an enlarger in a darkroom, he would choose which white areas he wanted to be able to see detail in and expose the print so as to reveal detail in those areas. Zone 7 = white with detail. (Zones 1 & 2 are just black, like the hole beneath my stump, and Zones 8 & 9 are just blown-out white, like the top left of my stump.) This is how he managed to capture so much detail in his photos. He also used "dodging" and "burning" while printing to bring out more detail in certain areas.
My camera and/or software isn't sophisticated enough to make these adjustments so I try to be selective about the lighting situations I take photos in. But even in filtered shade, there are likely to be areas that get over-exposed. And light meters can be fooled by a bright or dark area and under- or over-expose the rest of the image.
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Post by bjd on Oct 15, 2011 6:35:33 GMT
I played with some of my Berlin photos a few years ago. Not Ansel Adamy but I liked the way some came out.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 15, 2011 7:01:23 GMT
I can see why you like it, Bjd!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 15, 2011 15:47:15 GMT
They are well composed aren't they? I want to have a go.... ;D
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 15, 2011 16:07:04 GMT
It;s difficult to find an image in PB that suits the effect of black and white...this is the only one I've done that I like.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 15, 2011 16:24:44 GMT
Yeah, I had to play with this one a bunch before I felt it looked properly b&w. It's fun and a challenge, as I've always loved the feel of good black and white photography. It's definitely not just a matter of removing color. Here's my effort, which I like better than the original.
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Post by mich64 on Oct 15, 2011 19:10:01 GMT
How interesting Kimby! I love them all. bjd when you write that you played with your photo, what do you mean? I would love to be able to create some photos like bjd and Bixa and of course rikita who I am a fan of.
Cheers, Mich
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2011 6:02:49 GMT
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Post by bjd on Oct 16, 2011 7:24:01 GMT
Mich, my camera has a setting to take only black and white pictures, but I took mine in colour. Any software to deal with photographs (I use Gimp but there is Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and lots of others) should have a way of either brightening the colours, sharpening the image or else removing the colour so that you will get black and white and gray. I often think only certain things (people or buildings) come out well in b&w, but sometimes even scenery works well.
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Post by nycgirl on Oct 16, 2011 15:22:25 GMT
Lovely! Those weeping willows look like they're from an Impressionist painting.
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Post by mich64 on Oct 16, 2011 15:40:12 GMT
Yes, I agree nycg, it is an amazing image!
Thank you bjd, I may have to try this as I love the results.
Cheers! Mich
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 16, 2011 16:08:18 GMT
Bjd, that is really excellent. If I didn't know better, I would think it was an Atget or a similar master. Mich, if you will go to the Image Bank section "Technique", Rikita has written an introduction to Gimp. I've loaded Gimp on my computer, but so far still prefer Photoscape for editing and Microsoft Office Picture Manager for cropping and resizing. Both of those editors are also covered in the "Technique" sub-board. I just put an example of changing a color photo to b&w in the Photoscape tutorial thread: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fototechnique&thread=4417&page=1
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Post by mich64 on Oct 16, 2011 16:22:53 GMT
Thanks Bixa! I appreciate the assistance! Cheers! Mich
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 16, 2011 18:42:09 GMT
~?~ This is weird as all get-out. As you can see, I looked at this thread this morning, admired & commented on Bjd's picture, answered Mich, and never, ever saw Kerouac's picture. I swear, it wasn't there!
Anyway, great photo & can't have been an easy shot. Was it always in black & white?
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Post by bjd on Oct 16, 2011 18:57:52 GMT
No, Bixa. It's not weird. I had the same thing -- an hour after Kerouac's picture was posted, I answered Mich without seeing it. He must have sneaked it in somehow.
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Post by onlymark on Oct 16, 2011 19:23:29 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 16, 2011 19:40:38 GMT
Thanks, Mark. I had no idea. I've answered you over where you linked. Anyone with similar problems please weigh in over there as well.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2011 19:41:24 GMT
No, Bixa. It's not weird. I had the same thing -- an hour after Kerouac's picture was posted, I answered Mich without seeing it. He must have sneaked it in somehow. My picture appeared when I posted it, but when I came back a few hours ago, instead of the picture there was one of those Photobucket messages "you idiot fool, you have screwed up your link!" So I went back and fixed it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2011 19:43:46 GMT
Anyway, great photo & can't have been an easy shot. Was it always in black & white? Yes, I took that picture with an Ilford disposable cardboard camera. You can see this one and the other Ilford pictures on my various Mekong Delta threads.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 21, 2011 3:37:18 GMT
I love all these different takes on Black and White. Thanks for sharing them. More please?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 21, 2011 4:43:53 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 21, 2011 6:53:00 GMT
Stunning picture Bixa. Very 1930's. Tell us more about it please.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 21, 2011 7:21:13 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 21, 2011 15:30:20 GMT
Thank you Bixa. Lovely article and pictures.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 28, 2011 22:15:55 GMT
Bixa's picture makes me think we should have a thread on Perspective. Her long building and RR tracks perfectly illustrate the concept!
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Post by Kimby on Oct 28, 2011 22:26:06 GMT
I think this one is better in black and white: than in the original color: (Besides reducing color saturation to zero, I increased the contrast a tiny bit in the B/W version. I just used the Windows Photo Gallery software that came with the computer.)
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