Tag Archives: black and white

Uncovering the hidden details

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I love roses. It’s not just the colours but also that wonderful bouquet. Unfortunately the latest cameras don’t include the “smell capture” function, so I am unable to get that sensation over to you!

What I can hopefully convey is the dynamic beauty of this rose. It had been raining pretty heavily and of course, like any self-respecting photographer, I was thinking how awesome these flowers would look. After the rain stopped, I hopped outside to take this photo.

I’m always a little torn with processing flowers and landscapes as black and white. I just love colour! I’m always shooting in what is known as RAW; its what you might call the “digital negative”. Basically it is exactly what the camera captured through its sensor. If you use JPEG (the default on most cameras) you are effectively “throwing away” information. That information is hidden in the shadows and even in some of those bright, “blown-out” areas. If you use RAW then your photo-processing software (Lightroom, Aperture etc.) can recover those hidden details. I’ll post in a few days a remarkable photo I took at the Grand Canyon that demonstrates how you can open-up these shadow areas.

Flowers are ideal for RAW as well; there is always those tiny details to be un-covered. It takes patience when processing but the results are worth it. One final thing about RAW – its great for shooting in black and white. The reason is you can immediately see the monochrome image (great for imagining and the creative process) but you still keep the colour. In this case when I imported the photo into Lightroom it appeared as colour (with the black and white profile embedded within it). From here I used Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 for the conversion.

One final thing worth mentioning is that I used a Lensbaby lens on my Canon 5D to do the actual capture. Shooting in RAW and using the creative drama that comes with the Lensbaby – what a great combination!

You can see this photo full-sized here.

Black and White Rose

These tools helped me work the magic:

Removing the reality

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Sometimes its great when the photograph replicates close to what we see (not that you can really ever do that). To get really artistic though it’s nice to “remove the reality”. You can do this either when you take the photograph or later in Photoshop. Of course like anything you can take it too far or just plain get it wrong. The result can be pretty hideous. The rise of what is called “HDR” is a great example of what can happen if you get it wrong. HDR badly done can result in horrible over-saturated colours, artefacts and loss of fidelity.

All that said the black and white photograph is probably the best example of removing reality. Its hard to get that conversion into black and white just right; thankfully we’ve got powerful tools that allow us to experiment. If you don’t like the result then its “undo” and restart. Not so easy if you’re working with film.

By the way, do you know that if you shoot in RAW and then set a monochrome conversion on your DSLR you don’t lose the colour? In the Canon world you can exactly access these camera settings by using the DPP program that comes with your camera. Its nice to shoot in BW from a creative capture point-of-view- I often do it with portraits or street work.

The photo below was processed using Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2; a powerful but expensive conversion plug-in for Photoshop. Another great plug-in that is a fraction of the price is Topaz Lab’s Black and White Effects. This is certainly worth a download and free 30-day trial.

Try some BW and see what magic can come when you “remove the reality” from your image!

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These tools helped me work the magic:

Black Shag at Sunrise

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Topaz Clean is a cool Photoshop plug-in that you can use to create a kind of painterly or art effect to an image. There way I see it the plug-in alters the edges of objects by either removing detail or turning a straight line into a wiggly one. The effect is easier to see than explain! I find it works best on nature or landscapes. When you use it on an animal with feathers or fur you can create a very interesting look. On this bird (a black shag) you can see in the feathers look more pronounced. As you might guess its one of those effects that can be over-used. More advice is to push it to extremes and then use a mask to paint-in just the bits that work.

Download it from Topaz and give it a whirl; you will love it!

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These tools helped me work the magic:

Capturing those special moments

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What a fun privilege, capturing moments from someone’s wedding day.  I would guess there is no other day quite like it for bringing together wider family and friends.  A day when happiness is king!  It’s important to get all of those “standard” images; family groups and important moments.  The ring, the vows that first kiss…The “fly-on-the-wall” is a fun way to ensure the other incidental elements are saved; these are the simple things that form the tapestry of that day.

This photo I captured while the bride prepared; another wonderful privilege, to be there as the she transformed into a bride.  The other side of that coin is the groom but lets face it, they have it pretty easy with a tie, suit and buttonhole to wrestle with.

On the technical-side is another great example why you need a fast lens o your toolkit.  Here it is the trusty 50mm 1.8 (lovingly referred to as the “plastic fantastic”).  For the conversion to monochrome I used Nik Color Efex Pro 4 (not Silver Efex this time); I love that ethereal quality you get with Infrared conversion.

The Bride's Hand - closeup

These tools helped me work the magic:

Smile!

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There’s just something about a smile… so much said with no words.  I like when the smile is captured on the photo without ever saying those words – “smile!” I seem to remember reading that smiling in photos is a fairly modern thing; perhaps it started after the Second World War.   Here’s a family photo of mine from around (guessing here) 1910 – most people in the image are smiling which is interesting.   By the way, the boy at the front row (left) with the big boots is my grandfather:

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I try to catch the person smiling by saying something (usually something silly); I reckon that works better.  The result is more natural in the end.  I shot a wedding a couple of weeks ago and never once said the “smile” word.  And yes they were smiling in the photos!

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These tools helped me work the magic:

Lord of the Rings mountain

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I’m working on a series of photos based on a “Lord of the Rings” kind of theme.   This one seems to fit nicely into that; the gloom of the mountain and the sense of impending disaster.   Actually, its just a volcano with some cool clouds above it but  I can imagine, right?

The photo itself is pretty much straight-out of the camera with just some minor adjustments in Photoshop CS5.  Well, when I say “out of the camera” it was a set of three exposures, processed with HDR Efex Pro :-)  But it is photo realistic; what I actually saw!

For the black and white conversion I used Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2.  Version 2 is really worth the upgrade with the alibility to quickly add edge effects and treatments.

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These tools helped me work the magic:
Imagenomic Noiseware – Use the coupon “STEWARTBAIRD” at the checkout to get a 15% discount.  This coupon will work for all of Imagenomic’s great products.

Check-out my Topaz Lens Effects contest while you’re here.

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