Cleeve Hill

[Zig]

This windswept tree is at the top of the aforementioned hill just outside Cheltenham; taken on the hottest day of last year(around 37C).
50mm at f16. Knowing that I wanted a mono result, I used a polariser to give me deeper blues and boost contrast: I was aiming for the feel of about "Grade IV" in the equivalent mono output. This way I avoided having to do too much in the way of post-processing: a bit of burning in the sky and dodging to pick out some texture in the leaves; I wanted to convey the idea of "Prophet", oddly enough. What with the narrow range of tones and the stark subject I felt that composition had to be thought about a little more carefully.

[Banded Drake]

I hate to sound repetitive but i really like your bw landscapes , and i am glad that you put your shooting info on them too. When the weather breaks ( again ) i am going to have to see what i can come up with . Thanks for sharing these with us Zig .

....... Shawn

[Irma]

Very beautiful! Everything in the right place... your composition is perfect!! I am learning a lot from your pictures, specially about contrast.

The same as Shawn, as soon as we have better weather I'll go out to take pictures... do you recommend to take pictures with the sharpest lens we have, in order to get a better result?

What do you think about "a good contrast makes your pictures look sharper"?

Thanks for sharing your pictures and your technique...

[smarti77]

Composition is vital with such a symbolic image and it looks great. I think it would be very different image if the tree didn't have the fence around it?

[Zig]

Ta smarti, good point; you and Irma have just got me thinking of a B+W principle here: as there is no colour, then composition, themes, form and texture all become much more important and resonant; so control of contrast for effect also gains in importance too.
I'm not saying "my way is the best way" or anything, but I do try to follow a Golden Rule if possible, that of gathering as much information at the shooting stage as possible.
For me this means, always shooting raw and perhaps over-exposing by a third of a stop or so: that way I know I've maximised the amount of information I can get(...if I were blessed with a full-frame camera, this would be great!): obviously using prime lenses is also generally best..though sometimes a deliberate "lo-fi" approach also can work, depending on what one wishes to convey. As regards contrast, perhaps this depends on the subject? A photo of a baby would perhaps "say" the wrong message if heavy contrast were applied...yet high contrast is good for conveying a "punchy" comment.
Several shooters here often use high contrast to make social comments: Don S.'s contrast and sharpening are almost a trademark of his style, for example.
Sorry for blathering on; hope this is useful.

[EnglishBob]

Great Shot Zig. By the shadow there must of been quite a sun in the sky, where did you import that from?

[Banded Drake]

I understand what you are saying Zig , but i would like to be sure that i am reading right . When you shoot , you are already planning a bw/ mono ? I think this may be one ( of the many ) thing that i am missing out on. I understand that exposure is prob one of the most important things to think about , then composition ?
I seem to shoot somthing that i like , trying for my exposure to be right . And i try to shoot in RAW when shooting anything but sports , but more for the " just in case " factor . Then in my processing , i will try different things , such as bw , or sepia , to see what i can come up with . I guess i need to change my way of thinking at times huh ?
Thanks for so much input , thats why i like Shuttertalk so much ....

....... Shawn

[NT73]

I was brought up in the age of B/W when there was no consumer colour. (Very High Cost) So I don't particularly like B/W. I feel going back is a retrograde step. We used to paint colour on to B/W images, so I think you know where I am coming from. You young modern guys and gals, brought up on colour will think the opposite but as you are not going back, (not having had B/W before) then you must be going forward. Kinda weird isn't it. As long as you can still get anaesthetic for ops and not a slug of bourbon or the hammer blow to the chin then you'll be OK :|

[Zig]

Yep Craig...good ol' El Nino: skin-lacerating sunny spells in the UK for the past few years; lots of southerners whining about water bans/ "droughts" because they live in areas that hadn't been built with enough water infrastructure.....
Drake: I remember having this conversation with rufus a year or so ago; yes, I definitely decide to shoot mono beforehand...in fact, I purposefully decide to "see" in black and white if such a shot suggests itself: a strong composition, a repeated set of shapes or patterns, anything that would work by stripping away the clutter of colour. I sort of "flick a switch" whilst looking at something so that I can imagine how it looks in mono...but I also find a practical technique is to put a hand over one eye! Honestly, I assure you I'm not bonkers...it works for me...sort of reduces things to 2-dimensionality somehow and easier to see shape and form.
I'm not a mono-purist, feeling rather that some shots present themselves better in colour, others in mono. NT:(and please don't feel I'm being "age-ist" here) I remember my dad expressing much relief on the advent of auto colour processing: no chemicals to ruin the clothes, spotting negs, etc; I'd entirely agree, yet I'm reasonably certain that mono and colour have "evolved" and thrived, having been separated at birth, so to speak. I would say that some snappers seem to think their work should be ennobled by merely being mono-processed...whereas all they might have done is to make a naff shot into a naff mono shot instead of a naff colour one; that indeed is retrograde. And what with all these Spring flowers about, and the bluebells already among us, I'd be nuts not to use colour

[NT73]

I think you understood what I was on about Keith.
I suppose, if "holographic speaking photo's " ( I'm adding a bit here) become the normal thing (in years to come) that colour and B/W pics will become obsolete or not used to the degree they are today.
But some young guy who has only been used to holographic pics will think a flat photo of colour or even B/W is the bees knees.
That's what I was trying to get across, not that B/W is not worthy.
Just that I am no longer the young guy.
And Drake. If you are going to take a photo, that you want everyone to admire, then you should think about it before you take it and what you are going to take.
We all take shots on the spur of the moment that come out OK. But the ones I am proud of the most, have been set up for a specific purpose.

[Banded Drake]

NT73 Wrote:And Drake. If you are going to take a photo, that you want everyone to admire, then you should think about it before you take it and what you are going to take.
We all take shots on the spur of the moment that come out OK. But the ones I am proud of the most, have been set up for a specific purpose.

Oh trust me , i think about all my shots before i shoot them . Just sometimes ( more often then not ) fail to acheive what i was after . What i was refering to was to see the shot in b/w first , that is one thing that i have never done before with landscapes or portraits . The only time that i can remember thinking about a shot in bw is when i shoot barns .


............. Shawn