I have discovered a new interest. I beginning to appreciate the beauty of a monochrome (black & white) image. When I started this photographic journey I only saw pictures as color. Sometimes the more colorful the better the picture (or so the way the thoughts in my head formed). I’m just starting to understand the power of a well created B&W image. I know I have more to learn about this style of photography but I am excited learn and experiment. Here are a few of my favorites so far…
Once again I end with a picture I did not start out with for my project picture. There was a beautiful sunset again tonight and I was over in town just before it hit the horizon. I intended to get another picture of the Rome Cable tower with the clouds and setting sun behind it. I had captured a similar view early in my journey with photography and thought I could improve on it with my new knowledge. I guess I have more knowledge to gain.
I just couldn’t get the pictures to look the way I wanted. I was having a problem with noise due to the JPEG file format output by the camera. I worked at it far longer than I probably should have but I was determined to get a better picture. Eventually I turned to another picture to step away from my problem.
I had a picture I initially considered a throw away. I snapped it while waiting for the sun to move into position. I had no plans to process it but once I uploaded all the pictures to my computer there was a simplicity to it that I liked. The picture was basically monochrome to start which made my processing choice fairly easy.
It was just a stack of truck tires behind a parked truck but I really liked the detail in each tire. There was a lot of texture in all the elements of the picture and it was easy to make the whole scene ‘pop’. I’m beginning to appreciate the possibilities of monochrome pictures. I have been on a recent run of B&W processing but the images are turning out pretty good.
I woke this morning realizing old man winter was trying to get his groove back. It wasn’t a heavy snow but there was 4 to 5 inches that needed to be removed from the driveway. Early in the morning I usually tuse the shovel over the snow blower as not to annoy the neighbors too much. It has the added advantage of giving me some needed exercise. All went well and I thought it was going to be a nice day.
When left the house for work it was a clear morning but by the time I arrived 12 miles to the southeast it was practically a white out. We haven’t seen snow like this all winter. I continued for the better part of the day. Around 2pm it once again cleared u and I had some great conditions for pictures. The only obstacle in my way was the snow in the driveway again that needed to be removed. I was a little over half done when I decided to grab the camera before all the light was gone.
To be honest the amount of snow wasn’t as bad as I make it out to be in this picture. We probably had another 5 to 6 inches of the fluffy stuff. I liked the look of getting the camera low and exaggerating the amount of snow.
The sun was low and I might have had the white balance setting incorrect but by processing this as a B&W the picture actually works for me. I’m including the original and would appreciate any advice on how I could correct it. There was some interesting colors in the sky but I didn’t capture them in the original picture.
This is a good learning picture for me. I struggled with it while processing before settling on a B&W process. I learned what can and can not be corrected with Lightroom and/or Elements.
MLCreations Photography 