Tag Archives: MWM

photo processing, Picture Galleries, Snapshots from a Happy Life

Late fall close-ups

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  • Oakleaf & raindrop with sunburst
  • Lichen on a cherry tree.
  • Tiny box leaves lit by the sun.
  • Maple samaras.
  • Camelia bud and the stamens from a spent bloom.
  • Rosebud and rosehip.
Close-up photos from the past few days-in black and white

All of these were converted to black and white using Nik Silver Effects Pro.

For Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: close-ups.

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.

Flowers

Any way you look at it…

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My rose is about done now after a windy, rainy week and last light the wind changed and it’s gotten fairly chilly. Still it was a nice little bloom. I’ve been playing with different ways to use the picture of it.

Here are a couple of different black and white treatments. One on the lighter side and one on the darker side.

  • Nik collection Antique plate II effect.
    Nik collection Antique plate II effect.
  • Nik collection pinhole effect.
    Nik collection pinhole effect.
My rainy day rose in black and white.
From the basic image to a partial sepia effect applied in the GIMP.

Since last February I’ve been experimenting a lot with different photo processing methods. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at different ways of creating and using monochrome…you’d think it would be simpler in black and white. But there are so many different ways to take the color out and adjust the light and dark that it seems harder than plain old color. Lately I’ve been rather liking applying the monochrome partially or overlaying the monochrome and color photos with different layer blend modes.

Posted as part of Friendly Friday: Two ways (Actually I used 4) and Brashley Photography’s Mid-week Monochrome.

If you take an interest in different photo processing methods you might like to take a look at the one-to-three photo processing challenge, on my other website.