Black & White Photography

Wot, two blog updates in as many days! I guess it must be pissing down outside!!!
Oh dear, the colourful language raises its naughty head again, tut tut. Of course, pun intentional, as this latest blog entry has nothing to do with colour, unless of course I refer to grey scale, also known as Mono, but more commonly referred to as Black & White. I've never been a big fan of this type of photography to be honest, but lately I've been dabbling more and more with B/W conversions, and quite liking the end result. A big part of a good conversion is picking a suitable image to begin with. Many images simply won't work, so get your selection right and you're half way there. I cherry picked a few recent shots of mine before giving them the B/W treatment, and I'm well satisfied with their 'New look'. The majority of these shots were captured on dull, cloudy days, which is a good start as a lack of available colour generally has me pointing in the direction of B/W anyway, coupled with the fact that these moody skies often add a sense of drama to the shot, lending themself to B/W more than colour. Another slice of criteria is contrast - I tend to favour strong contrast in B/W conversions and always look at the depth of shadow and highlight before making a decision whether to 'Convert' or 'Back heel' the image I am considering for use. Thinking rationally, if it doesn't work in colour then there's only one path to go down. I choose to do my B/W photography in post processing, rather than capture it at source with the aid of Yellow, Orange and Red filters. Traditional methods, such as the Y/O/R filter route, were the only way to achieve true B/W shots before the introduction of digital camera's, but now it's a whole new ball game when you can easily lay your hands on a decent editing suite such as Photoshop. The end result, with the help of Photoshop is just as pleasing on the eye and it's a lot cheaper than shelling out on expensive B/W filters (that is, providing you have a copy of Photoshop that you managed to download for free!). Did I really say that? (wink).

And now to the business end of this blog entry - the photo's. Here is a small selection of B/W images by yours truly. Don't forget to click them for enlargements. The list is as follows...

1. Tynemouth (above)
Standing on the pier next to the Groyne Lighthouse, Littlehaven, I waited a few minutes for the arrival of the Amsterdam-bound ferry, which eventually arrived on schedule.  Plenty of great detail in the sky!

2. Tynemouth 2 (above)
As the ferry approached the Groyne Lighthouse at South Shields, I waited til it sailed alongside, then I tripped the shutter.

3. Transporter Bridge, Middlesborough
Positioned on the south side of the River Tees. Some nice foreground interest, and the Transporter Bridge dominating the shot. Not too much sky detail in this one.

4. Temenos, Middlesborough
A dramatic artwork on the banks of the Tees, with the Transporter Bridge in the background.

5. River Tyne, Gateshead Quays
I shot through a glass partition to get this one. A storm was brewing, as you can see in the distant black clouds. The rain was well and truly on its way...

6. Baltic Arts Centre, Gateshead Quays
And the rain soon fell! I took the lift from the viewing terrace back to ground level, which took no more than half a minute. Within this short space of time the heavens had well and truly opened. Seeking shelter in the Baltic doorway, I grabbed this shot, with like-minded folk opting to stay dry.

7. Roseberry Topping, Near Great Ayton, North Yorkshire
(as featured in my last blog entry). Works well in B/W. I quite like the added effect of the overhanging tree, which almost 'Frames' the iconic hill in the background.

8. St.Mary's Island, Whitley Bay
And finally, an experimental shot. Taken in broad daylight with a shutter speed of 45 seconds!!!!
An ND filter was applied to achieve an extra long exposure time, thus smoothing out the water in the process. A very dull and overcast day, with very little detail in the sky, Poor conditions for my type of photography, but you have to make the most of what you've got to play with, and on this occasion I landed a decent shot...

 

 

 

 

And that's all for now. I'll be back soon...in colour!

Ash

 

Black & White Shots

I really need to revamp my Black & White Gallery at ashleycorr.com as it has been rather neglected over the last year or so. I used to set aside some time for mono conversions, but that appears to be a thing of the past for no particular reason, other than my photography interests lying elsewhere. Sometimes it's wise to have a break from specific areas of photography, then when you revisit it brings out that creativity again, which reflects in the results, and here I have one or two examples of what I am getting at. The first shot was taken outside York Minster on April 23rd, 2012. The weather wasn't anything special that day - the sky was overcast and there was little or no sunshine to be had, but that didn't deter this photographer, as I planned to convert any decent shots into Mono (black & white). I spent 90 minutes inside the Minster, grabbing a batch of photo's to complete my York Minster Gallery, which, for the record, are all colour images. Upon leaving the Minster, via the Gift Shop, I crossed the road towards the shops and stopped to take a photo which is shown here (image one). The reflection in a shop window caught my eye immediately and out came the camera once again. I used a 10-22mm wide angle lens to cram as much content as I could into the frame, plus the use of a CPL filter on the window next to me, which made the lettering more prominent, when rotated to suit. I later edited the image in Photoshop CS6, which is the latest 'All singing, all dancing' software from the Adobe stable (a class bit o' kit!). I altered the levels and grey tones to suit, before converting the image to HDR (High Dynamic Range), which always works a treat with ancient stonework, and I think I pushed this one to its limit and brought out the best in what was a fairly 'Flat' image to begin with.

My second Mono shot, shown here, is another one that got the HDR treatment. Taken at a location that I have visited so many times - it's Penshaw Monument, on the outskirts of Sunderland, Tyne & Wear. I remember this visit very well - a freezing cold February morning, and there I was attempting my first ever Sunrise shots from the top of Penshaw Hill. Another one to forget though, as the sun only showed for a matter of seconds before departing behind a bank of low cloud on the horizon. I made my way back down Penshaw Hill after this non-event and stopped half way to photograph from the steps, which were well frosty, almost having me flat on my arse a couple of times. The 10-22 wide was paying for itself once again as it put itself to good use, with the pathway and steps offering the perfect 'Lead-In Line' to the shot, with Penshaw Monument once again providing the focal point for another Black & White effort. HDR came into play again, with two bracketed images instead of the single RAW file I used on the Minster shot above, tone mapped and aligned to create what is shown here. I've got this one printed on Ilford Galerie Satin Paper (280 g/sm) and mounted in textured white board, then framed in black - I have to say...it's a winner!    

And just before I pop off for a bite to eat folks, I'd like to tell you I'll be back shortly with some more creative photo's that I recorded last night, with the help of some string, an egg whisk and a roll of wire wool. Strange, eh. You'll be surprised at the results though. Not long to wait...

Ash 
www.ashleycorr.com