Fortnightly Challenge - June 13 thru June 26 - Topic: Black and White

[JohnMC]

Fortnightly Challenge - June 13 thru June 26

Challenge topic(s): Black and White

The challenge will run from right now until : 11:59PM June 26

Be sure to visit and post your images in our Flickr group.

Rules:
1. Photos should be your own work.
2. Produced within the challenge period if possible.
3. All positive feedback and criticism is encouraged and welcome if you posted or not.
4. There is no real limit to the number of photos you may enter.

Challenge topics:
1. Suggestions for the bi-weekly's challenge are made in a single thread which will be set up the week before.

Lets have fun!!!

 

[Designer Dale]

Here are B&W conversions of two photos of the church in Elbe, Washington. I think the first if iffy in B&W while the second works well. Please post your comments.

This one was posted to POTD in color to see if anyone was awake. (They weren't)

This is a variation on the church I have shot before. I used the Clarity slider in CS3 RAW to reduce the sharpness.

Dale

 

[MattSepeta]

The Pier

 

[deep diver]

Here are B&W conversions of two photos of the church in Elbe, Washington. I think the first if iffy in B&W while the second works well. Please post your comments.

This one was posted to POTD in color to see if anyone was awake. (They weren't)

This is a variation on the church I have shot before. I used the Clarity slider in CS3 RAW to reduce the sharpness.

Dale

The first image doesn't do anything for me. There is too much going on and there are too many conflicts in the overlaid images. I can't get my eye to settle any place.

I really like the second image. It is a simple and clean composition that perfectly matches the character of the church.

I really like this image. The composition is perfect. The ramp pulls my eye down the dock and right off into the horizon. It looks to me like this is an HDR image. I'm not a big fan of HDR. Can you post non-HDR image?

 

[Designer Dale]

^Very nice use of B&W going on here. I like the use of a low point of view. I will guess that you used a wide angle lens. The compression of space from the edges of the frame down the dock to the rail is cool. I might want to see a bit more of the space between the rail at the end of the dock and the opposite shore. It's a bit scrunched for me. I usually don't like centered images, but this works for me. Great shot.

The first image doesn't do anything for me. There is too much going on and there are too many conflicts in the overlaid images. I can't get my eye to settle any place.

^ That's the response I wanted to get from POTD. They get complacent sometimes with all the top quality images over there. It's not an overlay in post. I shot through the back window to the front window on the opposite side. The brush is the reflection in the window near me. Here is the color version. I think it conveys an otherworldly feel.

I really like the second image. It is a simple and clean composition that perfectly matches the character of the church.

^ I like this one better than the color one too. Nice and simple. Reducing the Clarity slider gave a nice touch to the sides of the church. Soft.

Dale

 

[JDDavis]

^ That's the response I wanted to get from POTD. They get complacent sometimes with all the top quality images over there. It's not an overlay in post. I shot through the back window to the front window on the opposite side. The brush is the reflection in the window near me. Here is the color version. I think it conveys an otherworldly feel.

^ I like this one better than the color one too. Nice and simple. Reducing the Clarity slider gave a nice touch to the sides of the church. Soft.

Dale

Ah, ok. Now I see what's going on. I agree with deep on the first image but I actually like it better in B&W than in color (though it's easier to see what is happening in color). It has kind of a nostalgic feel in B&W that is a little more interesting to me.

 

[CK Williams]

A National Cemetery in a nearby town

 

[Designer Dale]

A National Cemetery in a nearby town

^ Nice framing and shallow DOF on a subject that lends it's self well to B&W. It looks a bit crowded at the top of the frame. Was this a conscious choice or was there something out of place in the upper ranges of view (behind the cemetery)? At any rate, I like the photo. Most of these have the markers low in the frame with the expanse of the cemetery stretching out behind it.

Good call.

Dale

 

[CK Williams]

^ Nice framing and shallow DOF on a subject that lends it's self well to B&W. It looks a bit crowded at the top of the frame. Was this a conscious choice or was there something out of place in the upper ranges of view (behind the cemetery)? At any rate, I like the photo. Most of these have the markers low in the frame with the expanse of the cemetery stretching out behind it.

Good call.

Dale

Thanks Dale, I'm happy with the way it converted to B&W. The backdrop above the image was pretty unremarkable so the framing was a conscious choice.

 

[CK Williams]

I think the first if iffy in B&W while the second works well.

Dale

I'm not real sure about the first one. I do like it better in B&W than color. The second is very nice. The only thing I might do differently would be to frame it without the tree on the right. Nice conversion!

 

[CK Williams]

Very nice. This works great as B&W.

 

[peepboon]

Bigger image here: CLICK (Just click 'all sizes')

My FLICKR

 

[MattSepeta]

real nice

A National Cemetery in a nearby town

I love it. You processed beautifully and framed perfectly.

here is the raw, untouched +/-0EV shot that you asked for deep.

Man that is boring!

....

Man I love computers!

But yep, in retrospect, I should have raised the camera a bit allowing for some more of the lake to be shown between the end of the pier and the shoreline. Live and learn.

 

[pdxflint]

antique chinese porcelain

I've haven't really had time to do much photographing of much at all lately, so I'm experimenting with LR3b2 by adding grain in b/w conversions. I'm just trying to get something that perhaps, if I'm lucky, resembles b/w film. I've stared at it too long, so I'm sure tomorrow I'll see it with fresh eyes...

Detail shot of an antique Chinese porcelain pot/jar/vase/vessel... not sure exactly what it was used for...



D300, 17-55, 1/100 sec, f/4.5, 55mm, ISO 800 (grain added in pp)

 

[Designer Dale]

One of my recent Mt. Rainier photos converted to grayscale. It needs a better black without losing all of the shadow detail.

CK: I agree about the tree in my church shot. It's hard to get away from "infringements" there. Building on one side, wires from another angle. You know what I mean...

Dale

 

[arnebanane]

Roof top shot

Enjoy.

I attached the picture because the link does not seem to work for me.

 

[CK Williams]

I love it. You processed beautifully and framed perfectly.

Thanks Matt. The color version is nice, but the B&W blows it away.

I've haven't really had time to do much photographing of much at all lately, so I'm experimenting with LR3b2 by adding grain in b/w conversions. I'm just trying to get something that perhaps, if I'm lucky, resembles b/w film. I've stared at it too long, so I'm sure tomorrow I'll see it with fresh eyes...

Detail shot of an antique Chinese porcelain pot/jar/vase/vessel... not sure exactly what it was used for...



D300, 17-55, 1/100 sec, f/4.5, 55mm, ISO 800 (grain added in pp)

I like it, it does have a Tri-X feel to it.

One of my recent Mt. Rainier photos converted to grayscale. It needs a better black without losing all of the shadow detail.

CK: I agree about the tree in my church shot. It's hard to get away from "infringements" there. Building on one side, wires from another angle. You know what I mean...

Dale

Nice shot Dale, would using a red filter give you the black you're looking for? I definitely know what you mean and the church photo is still a great one.

Enjoy.

I attached the picture because the link does not seem to work for me.

Interesting shot. I like the silhouettes, but wish they were interacting with each other more.

 

[CK Williams]

Bigger image here: CLICK (Just click 'all sizes')

My FLICKR

Nice panorama, how many images did you combine?

 

[TH3D4RKKN1GH7]

Lost

EXIF
Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 21 mm
ISO Speed: 100

 

[CK Williams]

EXIF
Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 21 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Nice photo Roman


Texas Canyon, AZ

 

[JDDavis]

One of my recent Mt. Rainier photos converted to grayscale. It needs a better black without losing all of the shadow detail.

Dale

Snow can be really hard to expose for. Are you able to get any more detail on mountain with some kind of highlights slider?

 

[JDDavis]

Nice photo Roman


Texas Canyon, AZ

This is very nice. Nice detail and the clouds really make the picture for me. Well done.

 

[JDDavis]

I've always liked this pic. There's not enough detail or depth and I haven't gotten great feedback on it but it's one of those pics that I really like personally. I guess that comes from actually being there. This is the Eibsee (frozen of course) in Garmisch, Germany.

And another of my favorites from a while back. Jellyfish in the Monterey Aquarium.

 

[Designer Dale]

Detail shot of an antique Chinese porcelain pot/jar/vase/vessel... not sure exactly what it was used for...

^ I like the DOF and contrast in this one, and it's an interesting subject too. Grain is something that I thought I would say good riddance to in digital, but this reminds me of how it became an artistic addition as well as a technical challenge with film. Nice choice of everything. And no boats...

I've always liked this pic. There's not enough detail or depth and I haven't gotten great feedback on it but it's one of those pics that I really like personally. I guess that comes from actually being there. This is the Eibsee (frozen of course) in Garmisch, Germany.

^ The layered feel to this shot is very nice. Winter mountains are hard to shoot. Keeping the contrast without losing the detail in the highlights is something that requires great skill. One thing that I have noticed during this Challenge is how some of the soft, warm landscapes posted in POTD by you-know-who are great in color, but wouldn't stand up all that well in B&W. A B&W shot needs an area of cold black to give it depth. Well framed color shots can get away without that. I would like to see the color version of this if there is one.

And another of my favorites from a while back. Jellyfish in the Monterey Aquarium.

^ Very impressive shot of the jellyfish. This is a B&W photo that is framable. Speaking of displaying prints on the wall, imagine how cheap it would be in B&W as opposed to color.

My re-submission of the earlier Mt. Rainier shot. Added a bit of post using Adjustment Layers in PS.

Dale

 

[Benny P]