Tag Archives: #2020PhotoChallenge

photo processing, photography techniques

November nature in black and white

3 Comments
  • Original
  • Simple desaturation.
  • Low key Nik filter
  • Black and white with increased contrast (using G’mic).
Barnacle rock.
  • Original
  • Simple desaturation
  • Grayscale
  • Nik B&W fine art low key filter
Wren in the grass.
  • Original
  • Nik fulll dynamic B&W filter.
  • Nik B&W fine art low key filter.
Beach, woods & sky.

I don’t shoot in black and white, but I took these photos on a walk yesterday planning to process them in Black and White for Hey Jude’s 2020 Photo Challenge #47: photograph nature in Black and White and experiment with high and low key effects.

photo processing, photography techniques, Picture Galleries, Snapshots from a Happy Life

Light and dark

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Some photos from the past couple of weeks that have a strong contrast between light and dark.

  • A high contrast sunset.
    A high contrast sunset.
  • Seed head of Lily of the Nile (agapanthus)
    Seed head of Lily of the Nile (agapanthus)
  • November sky-high structure
    November sky-high structure
  • November sky-soft
    November sky-soft
  • Asters with raindrops.
    Asters with raindrops.
  • Close-up of aster with raindrops.
    Close-up of aster with raindrops.
  • The intimate tangle of branches really stand out when the color is removed.
    The intimate tangle of branches really stand out when the color is removed.
Black and white photos with high contrast.

While the contrast between light and dark is fundamental to black and white, I also find myself drawn to contrast in sharpness of detail and texture. You can see that in several of the photos above.

This week Hey Jude for Photo Challenge #46 asked for black and white focusing on contrast.

New Zealand

North island textures

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Sometimes it is the close ups that give you a real sense of place:

Lichens and mosses on the forest floor of a Kauri forest.
Water making designs in the sand at Te Paki stream.
Different kinds of clam shells in the sand.
Interesting textures created by water and the shadows of ripples over small pebbles on the seabed.

Shadows and textures really make the carving below. I think it looks more dramatic in black and white. The colors distract.

A Maori carving in a meeting house at the treaty grounds in Waitangi.

We spent a couple of weeks, amazing, delightful weeks, on the north island of New Zealand last January. It feels like more than 11 months ago. We were able to see our son over the Chinese New Year. He went back and while he was in the air going back the state department sent out its “do not travel to China” message. (I have some very pithy ideas about the US state department.)

Seeing him again is not in the cards in the foreseeable future, so I am sooo happy that we had that time right before everything closed down.

For Brashley Photography’s Mid-week Monochrome and HeyJude’s 2020 Photo Challenge #44.