Photowalk 59 - A More Natural Black And White

I looked out of the window this morning and saw that the sky was blue, with great looking wispy white clouds threaded across it. Not great HDR clouds, but perfect for some black and whites.

Keen to get out, it was then that I realised that I hadn't charged my spare batteries up from a couple of days ago, and after a long walk yesterday came the realisation that I might not have enough juice. Damn!

After a tense half an hour with my batteries in their charger, watching to see if the sky was shifting, I grabbed my camera bag and headed out.. but would I be too late?

Morning Stroll

As it turned out, I wasn't. Although the Sun climbed up through the Winter sky, as long as I wasn't shooting directly into it, there was enough colour and detail to pull off some nice shots. Liberal use of my Cokin A Polarizer on my Fuji S5700 / S700 helped, as did under-exposing by 1/2 to a full ev on most frames.

I also altered my post-processing method. Figuring out that a change was as good as a rest, I closed everything on my old PC and fired up the full Photoshop, it ran OK, and gave me access to it's excellent Black and White Adjustment Layer, which can simulate numerous coloured filters and is much better than the usual hue / sat technique I use in Elements.

Don't think that you've got to buy the full Photoshop to use this method though - the latest versions of Elements have it as well.

Back to the photographs. The above shot was actually near the end of my walk. I saw Portsmouth Dockyard and the Spinnaker Tower on the horizon, with a nice haze across them. Then the couple walked out of their front door.

"Get out of the way!" I was thinking, then realised that their profiles, moving away, were a great addition, so I grabbed the shot.

In Photoshop I had to use a levels adjustment with a mask to lighten up the path and the people, but I don't think it's too obvious. Hopefully!

Industrial Unit, Hardway

I love exploring Industrial Estates on Sundays when they're empty of Security Guard, Workers and rampaging White Vans. The cool, clean lines of metal structures, the great shadows and shapes you can discover, all appeal to my eye.

Public Pontoon, Priddys Hard

Another scene I've shot regularly, this time I went for an off-centre composition, although I could have ventured further on the pontoon, and perhaps knelt down for a more dynamic angle. The original was pretty blurry, and I think I've added a tad too much sharpening.

Industrial Unit, Gosport

More industrial stuff - but I think the red-filter effect has made the sky too dark. Green / yellow might have been a better choice.

Hard Standing

The beauty of a properly Sunny day is the definition you can see in the shape of the shadows. I love 'em!

TV Aerial On Chimney

Another simple subject.

Alphage Road

This one's too busy for my liking, but the telephone mast is strangely compelling.

Jerusalem

My attempt at a "State of The Nation" pic! I guess I'm trying to imply ideas about business being more important than the country as a whole, "false" security every-where, and regulations tying everybody up in red tape. Shame it's a bit wonky though.

I loved this mornings photowalk, and the photographs came out OK too. I guess it was the combination of a low Winter Sun, blue skies, wispy clouds, and (almost) deserted streets. Thanks for looking at them!

Cheers, Rob.

Comments

[Victor]

Hi Rob,

These black and white conversions are much better and the use of your polarisor has really helped out. (You've still only got 256 colours though!)
I actually liked the use of red filtration on the 'Industrial Unit' shot, really helped seperate it's triangular shape from the sky. Also gave an almost foreboding look to the unit!

I quite enjoy your 'photography walks' and how you shoot stuff that just takes an interest to your eye, quite often it takes an interest with your viewers too!

All the best,

Victor

[Rob_Nunn]

Hi Victor,

Thanks for your comments, you're right, these conversions are a lot better than my normal stuff, I think I'll do them this way from now on.

Thanks again, Rob.

[Maurizio (Mozuk)]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for sharing once again...Victor made a comment on 256 colours and brings up a question I have! The above B&W photos, are they saved in greyscale? And more questions... Is there a particular reason for this? I have been saving my B&W shots in RGB.

In your extensive reading Rob, have you come across, particularly B&W fine art photography, a preference of one over the other?

Cheers
Maurizio

[Rob_Nunn]

Hi Maurizio,

I too save my black and white photographs as RGB, and I'm pretty sure that's the best way to do it.

We need Victor to do a tutorial on how he extracts the most tones out of black and white images - his technique for avoiding the "banding" that can appear when you're limited to 8 bits, or 256 shades of each colour.

Cheers, Rob.

[Victor]

Hi Rob,

Point taken regards the 256 comment. It doesn't matter which file format you save the final image in if you've already restricted the palette range at the conversion point. (It also restricts the mobility you have with palette critical adjustments such as curves.)

I shall endeavour to put some notes together with a detailed explanation on the flickr forums - along with the various methods that can be used to circumvent these problems utilising even the simplest of software. (Also some methods I've worked on to prevent various process artifacts that can occur unless you structure them in a 'correct' order.)

All the best,

Victor

[Rob_Nunn]

Hi Victor,

That'd be great!

Cheers, Rob.