• Members 341 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 1:04 a.m.

    Welcome to the Black and White Photography thread #1 for 2 February 2025
    We’re dedicated to fostering discussions about Black and White photography. This open peer-to-peer forum allows critical feedback on images, leading to discussions on techniques, styles, interpretation, and storytelling.
    It’s easy - To participate: post an image or essay with a title, short description, and explanation. All comments must include the image or essay as a quote. Replies may or may not include quotes.

    THREAD GUIDELINES:
    1. This thread is for learning about Black and White photography.
    2. Post one image or photo essay for comments.
    3. Entries can be single images or short photo essays (3 to 10 connected images that tell a story).
    4. Give your entry a clear title and explain why you took it and the story it tells.
    5. Provide constructive feedback on others’ images/essays.
    6. Go beyond simple praise or dismissal.
    7. Explain why you like an image or essay.
    8. Negative feedback is welcome (be polite, honest, and constructive).
    9. Stay on topic and avoid politics or distractions.

    We refine our skill-craft through feedback - Analyzing prints pinned on the virtual wall is our approach, but discussions of styles and techniques are also acceptable. While most images are captured digitally, Black and White film can also discussed. The focus is on image.

    Post a photo or photo essay and get comments and feedback. In return, give honest but constructive opinions of others’ images. A simple “like” is insufficient. There are multiple levels of feedback: composition, technique, emotion and storytelling, etc.
    What caught your eye about an image and why? What draws you in and what distracts you? What changes would you make? Does the photographer tell their story? Does the image communicate their viewpoint or emotion? As W. Eugene Smith said, “A photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness.” Does the image meet Smith’s criteria?

    Explore the image in your head, considering composition, perspective, toning, balance, exposure, and tonality. Consider the story, emotion or opinion the artist is trying to communicate. Provide feedback.

    Downloading and reposting - (please note: clear instructions are required).
It’s often challenging to verbalize useful comments about images. Instead, it’s easier to “show.” Unless the original poster specifically states otherwise, participants are free to download, alter, and repost images in replies to express their analysis and critique. The reposted image may remain permanently or be removed after a short period. Downloaded and altered images shall not be used for other purposes or uploaded elsewhere.

    Encouragement - When I first pinned a print on the cork-board for the professor and class to analyze, I was apprehensive. However, it proved to be an effective way to learn and develop my skills and vision. Well reasoned analysis and comments aid the artist in improving their vision, skill, and style. The goal is to promote and encourage people to enhance their artistic vision and skill in Black and White Photography by providing constructive feedback. General feedback is also welcome. Sharing techniques for capturing or processing images that aid in creating good Black and White images or photo essays is appreciated in replies.

    Why focus on Black and White - As Elliott Erwitt said, “Color is descriptive. Black and White is interpretive.” It’s an abstraction that simplifies photography by focusing on composition, forms, shapes, tonality, textures, and emotions. Ansel Adams famously said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make a photograph.”
    Clyde Butcher talks about the hundreds of photographers who flock to Inspiration Point in Yosemite National Park for the “golden hour.” However, the composition at sunrise is poor. For Black and White, it’s not about the color of the light, but the quality of the light. Ansel Adams arrived midmorning when the light was “right” to produce his iconic images. His iconic book, “Yosemite and the Range of Light,” had a significant impact on conservation and environmental movements in the West. It also attracts thousands of photographers each year to capture the “Range of Light.”

    clydebutcher.com

    Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl” captured the horrors of the Vietnam War and profoundly impacted the United States. Stripped of distractions, the image exposed the terror in the children’s faces, prompting critical questioning of government actions. W. Eugene Smith’s “Minamata” warned the world. It exposed a corporation poisoning water and killing residents, highlighting the suffering of the Minamata community for profit. William Henry Jackson’s photographs convinced Congress to preserve Yellowstone as the first national park, leading to the creation of the National Park Service and commitment to wild land preservation.

    aboutphotography.blog/blog/the-terror-of-war-nick-uts-napalm-girl-1972

    www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/w-eugene-smith-minamata-warning-to-the-world/

    www.pbagalleries.com/first-photographic-images-of-yellowstone/

    Black and White strips away distractions to expose emotions. It tells unique stories in various photographic genres, from landscapes to social documentaries to portraiture. Check out Annie Leibovitz’s Black and White work.

    blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/why-artists-choose-black-and-white-photography/

    fstoppers.com/fashion/why-its-still-important-shoot-black-and-white-48141

    www.designspiration.com/save/1600176374707/

    Another resource is the “Daybooks of Edward Weston,” though dated, still relevant.

    Additional Resources - It is encouraged to discuss additional resources on Black and White photography in posts, whether in your images or commenting on others’ when those resources aid in the goals of the thread.

    Growing Together - The Black and White thread focuses on growth and learning together. Be active, honest, and respectful.

  • Members 341 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 1:16 a.m.

    The Return of the Puppet Masters

    The Puppet Master was a 1950's era SiFi movie. On a recent trip walking along around a nice lake after dinner during Christmas and New Years, I came along what goes as today's Puppet Masters. A young couple mesmerized by what so much of society today is slave to - or electronic devices. Are these the new Puppet Master?

    Lakeland-l1000523-20241226-0060.jpg

    [edited by Alan to add a thumbnail to the post]

    Lakeland-l1000523-20241226-0060.jpg

    JPG, 6.7 MB, uploaded by tprevatt on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Members 1271 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 1:55 a.m.

    Well done Truman (hope I got that right). An informative and inspiring preamble...

    Sent me off converting some of my images to b&w to see how they look - when I should be doing other things...

  • Members 752 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 2:07 a.m.

    Rebirth of a canna lily.
    The earlier bloom had faded away, but the plant refused to die.

    canna in B&W.jpg

    Steve Thomas

    canna in B&W.jpg

    JPG, 25.1 KB, uploaded by stevet1 on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Members 1620 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 2:37 a.m.

    Wow. I'm happy to get that off my back.
    An Australian outback shearing shed.

    Shearing. Released.jpg

    Shearing. Released.jpg

    JPG, 1.7 MB, uploaded by MikeFewster on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Members 1271 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 2:44 a.m.

    I took this photo only 6 months after acquiring my FZ300. It didn't stand out at all - the colours were a muddled mess of greens, yellows and dead tans and the bokeh was in that blurred too much / not enough zone. But I could see the silky white filaments and wondered if b&w would help. After a ~ 30% crop I was happy...

    P1040350a.JPG

    P1040350a.JPG

    JPG, 533.7 KB, uploaded by Bryan on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Members 1620 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 6:28 a.m.

    It's a well chosen subject for
    B&W. Strong lines for a strong message. The total lack of contact between child and parents supports your title.
    Did you try cropping in a little to make the couple more prominent? But then, I probably overcrop.
    I've been having a bit of a Robert Heinlein refresher and The Puppet Master is on my list.

    Cheers for the new thread and I really like your introduction. Does anyone else have some favourite B&W resources to mention?

  • Members 1620 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 6:32 a.m.

    Death/rebirth seems very appropriate for B&W. Did you try any other angles on the same subject?

  • Members 1620 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 6:43 a.m.

    Fine detail and plenty of contrast. Well worth trying with B&W.
    I noted Bryan's comments on the colours here before the B&W conversion. I know nothing of everyone's experience with B&W and I don't want to teach grandmothers to suck eggs. But just in case....Do y'all play with the individual colour channels when making a B&W conversion or do you hit the B&W button on either camera or PP? If you don't know what I'm talking about and you want to play more with B&W, let me know and I'll give some resources.

  • Members 1271 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 7:51 a.m.

    I became aware that the final B&W can be influenced by pp prior to conversion by someone's comment in a pp or B&W thread. Not on the image I posted but I have loosely played with the concept.

    Some definitive resources would be good...

  • Members 752 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 8:28 a.m.

    I wanted the depth of field to be small and focused on the new growth while allowing the old growth to fade away to blurriness as though in a faded memory of what once was.

    Steve Thomas

  • Members 1620 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 10:23 a.m.

    Thanks Steve. That is much what I thought I was seeing. The reason I used the word"angles"was because I was wondering about a shift of camera position a little to the left (but retaining focus on the plant on the right) to bring the stems a little closer together.

  • Members 1620 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 10:30 a.m.

    Try this .
    digital-photography-school.com/3-tips-for-better-black-and-white-conversion-using-lightroom/
    This uses Lightroom. It's the simplest way to do it I know. There are other approaches using PS and layers. By adjusting the colour channels, individual greys in the monotone can be altered.
    You can buy expensive B&W manipulation programs like Silver Effex but I think the DPS method is as good. I like it better than using presets.

  • Members 1032 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 1:44 p.m.

    This capture had to be in B&W.

    Snow Fall Tonbridge Train .jpg

    Snow Fall Tonbridge Train .jpg

    JPG, 4.3 MB, uploaded by Daneland on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Members 1732 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 1:47 p.m.

    Great concept for an ongoing thread that can have a lot of appeal across genres and gear. I hope lots of us will engage!

    What I like best about b&w is how it can open our eyes to imaginative captures or images hidden inside of other images, even when you don't live in a photogenic area or can't travel as much as you'd like. This is my garden fence. It wasn't that interesting in color because everything sort of blended together, but adjusting the colors separately gave me a result I was happy with and a nice print.

    I use all kinds of tools for conversion. Lightroom has a great built in converter. I sometimes use tools in Photoshop. I sometimes use Silver Efex or Analog Efex and some old versions of Luminar and On1. If I use presets I use them only as a starting point, and I seldom use them at full effect because they are often destructive to my m43 small sensor captures.

    bw2.jpg

    bw2.jpg

    JPG, 1.4 MB, uploaded by minniev on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Feb. 2, 2025, 2:22 p.m.

    Thank you Truman for starting such an interesting thread!

    I think there are at least two branches of B&W photography - one is if you are planning for B&W, means you are specifically composing for monochrome result - and other is rescuing bad color image :) For me it is only the latest, at least for last 20 years or so.

    Anyway, I have got some images, which are uninteresting in color, but can be made usable in B&W (at least I hope so). As they do not make an essay, then just one image per thread :)

    The snail

    SDIM8950-highkey.jpg

    SDIM8950-highkey.jpg

    JPG, 698.1 KB, uploaded by ArvoJ on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Members 752 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 3:13 p.m.

    A couple of years ago, I was able to upgrade my camera to a Canon T8i.

    This is one of the first pictures I took with it.

    country road.JPG

    Steve Thomas

    country road.JPG

    JPG, 149.1 KB, uploaded by stevet1 on Feb. 2, 2025.

  • Members 341 posts
    Feb. 2, 2025, 4:37 p.m.

    Mike,
    Glad to see another Heinlein fan. The original "Puppet Masters" made in 1951 was about the free will being stolen from people and was in response to the "Red Scare" in the US during the onset of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Heinlein was one of the first writers to use science fiction to address social and political issues. That started a great tradition carried on by Star Trek and others.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppet_Masters

    The remake simply missed the boat as the original "villain" of Heinlein was replaced by extraterrestrial aliens. Producing the remake in color was I think a major mistake. Period pieces like this one and the parts Oppenheimer need to be done in Black and White. The remake was like most remakes missed the target.

    As to the image itself. I saw the couple coming and waited until the strong like illuminated harshly the woman mesmerized by looking at her phone. The blank look on all their faces - including the child reminded me on the spot of the movie. I had the title before I pressed the shutter. My decision on cropping was more driven by trying to get the environment of people out on a nice walk on a warm evening having fun contrasted to this family.

    Regards