We took the long way home from The Mountain last week, in order to get some apricots in Eastern Washington. The climate on the far side of the mountain is quite dry and the landscape is stark compared to the lush near rain forests on the western side, but it is beautiful none-the-less.
I think the landscapes have a classic, timeless look in black and white.
These were turned into black and white using the GIMP, open-source software. I used the same methods as I did for the post: Mountain landscapes in black and white.
The rock rose was converted to black and white using RawTherapee, an open source program, and the Columbine was processed using the Nik Silver Effects Pro plug-in for the Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). I added a vignette and a focus blur in the GIMP.
For the past year or so I’ve been studying black and white. Specifically using open-source software (the GIMP and Raw Therapee). It is very interesting to see how different elements catch your eye when you remove color.
Here are a few photos from the past few weeks.
Spring woods
Fern Cove on Vashon Island in Puget Sound.Converted to black and white using the GIMP’s built-in mono-mixer tool.
Do you think it still feels like spring with the color removed?
Siberian Iris
My neighbor’s irises.Converted to black and white using Raw Therapee’s luminance equalizer method.Converted to black and white using the Nik plug-in to the GIMP.
This photo, with two variations shows how you can get different effects. I couldn’t decide which of these two black and whites to choose. In one the flowers stand out more from the background but there isn’t as much emphasis on the design on the petals. What do you think?
Un-furling
A bracken fern unfurling.Converted to black and white using the Nik plug-in to the GIMP.
I chose this one because it is almost monochrome in green. It’s probably not a fair comparison because the black and white had the background darkened and blurred a bit. Maybe I should go in to the colored one and try to emulate that effect.
Spring Sky
Changing weather viewed over Colvos Passage on Puget Sound.Simple de-saturation using the GIMP’s built-in tool.
I was curious to see what would happen to this photo that doesn’t seem to have much color in it. It was a surprise to see that the black and white feels a bit warmer than the original.
If you are interested in trying out these open source (free!) programs here are a couple of posts that might help: The photo processing tools on my belt.
My pups: Asta and Ginger are almost inseparable.Uncle and niece walking Asta make a pretty cute pair.Dad with my half-sister: Max.A pair of gulls on a rainy day.
These two were taken in black and white very long ago:
Scanned image from long ago: a boy and his dog.Another scanned oldy: the same boy (his name was Watson) with his grandfather, also named Watson.
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.
Some photos from the past couple of weeks that have a strong contrast between light and dark.
A high contrast sunset.
Seed head of Lily of the Nile (agapanthus)
November sky-high structure
November sky-soft
Asters with raindrops.
Close-up of aster with raindrops.
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.
Sometimes it is the close ups that give you a real sense of place:
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.
