rachel on 9/4/2008 at 20:49
Hey all,
During my last trip to NY, I decided to give B&W photography a try, something I had in the back of my head for some time already. Following advice I found online, I took the pics in color and reworked them in Photoshop afterwards, playing with light and contrast on some, and doing only minor corrections on others.
It's still harder than "normal" photography and pretty much half the pics I took ended up useless (though as color they're okayish).
Result is (
http://stuff.freylia.net/b&w/) here.
(Give it time to load)
Criticism, advice and similar galleries from fellow ttlgers welcome :)
TTK12G3 on 9/4/2008 at 21:04
I like! :D
BrokenArts on 9/4/2008 at 21:14
I love black and white photography, just something about it.
Simplistic in nature, yet full of detail with its light and dark images, shadows. Your eye tends to drink everything in, you see so much more with black and white sometimes.
They look pretty good, some look a little washed out, could use more contrast. Chrysler building is my fav, love that building anyway, who doesn't.
Someone did this for me, years ago, I can't quite remember what they did, it was a neat effect. They used black and white film and put the images on color paper, you get an a faint hint of Sepia on the overall look. It turned out to be a lovely look, at least thats what I think she did, been so long now, I don't fully remember that correctly.
Good job, hope you do more, and experiment more with it.
demagogue on 9/4/2008 at 22:41
Home sweet home.
Did you know the top of the Crysler building holds apartments, huge vaulted lofts with the triangles being large windows overlooking the city?
I used to live 2 blocks east of it.
I think black and white photography is good for NYC. Nice pictures.
Thief13x on 9/4/2008 at 22:44
nice:thumb: I'm a huge fan of B/W only if it's obviously a modern pic. Otherwise it just feels like a history book...the NY pics are awesome.
Nicker on 9/4/2008 at 22:46
Some ok compositions there but mostly snapshots.
B&W needs a different quality of light than colour. namely light and shadow. That means shooting in sunlight, not overcast, or with point sources casting shadows.
You need to retrain your eye to look for shape and texture created by contrast rather than colour. Try scouting shots through a hand held, dark coloured filter, to see if the shapes and shadows come out. That's a cheaper way of experimenting than firing off rolls of film. It will help give you a sense of what qualities of light work and which don't.
The sepia effect on prints is achieved by adjusting the colour of the light used in the exposure (IIRC). It won't fix a bad shot though.
Keep on snaping!
heretic on 9/4/2008 at 23:21
Those are very nice, and a few are outstanding IMO.
The 34th street and EXT. day Chrysler photos in particular.
NY looks so morose in B&W, nice.
Scots Taffer on 9/4/2008 at 23:39
Nice shots, raph, although I agree with Nicker to a certain extent. While these are perfectly okay snapshots they're not utilising the reasons B&W photography can be so visually powerful and most of these could simply be colour-desaturated photos. The only one that comes close is the Corner of 36th Street and 7th Ave.
That said, a few of the shots look nice simply as they are.
Mr.Duck on 9/4/2008 at 23:52
B&W's all about the style. So elegant :)
Ah, must resume my photo taking....-_-
Myoldnamebroke on 9/4/2008 at 23:57
Sepia is just like other toners, it's done after exposing the print onto paper. It's an extra stage after developing where the chemicals in the toner react with the silver in the photo paper.
If you're doing your B&W in photoshop, don't be afraid to go nuts with it. While you don't want to always lose all your detail, as said before it's all about contrast. Whack it up and blow all the highlights! If you do it on purpose it can be useful stylistically, and it might help you see what makes the image interesting. Ultimately that's the biggest tip you can give for developing photography in general, look at other people's pictures and try copying what makes them good and avoid what makes them bad. The more images you see, the better you'll get at turning what you see around you into good images.
