Show me: your black/white or sepia photos

[jann1033]

these are really beautiful....there is just something about B& W that color just does not do imo

so..sigh...
any tips on digital b&W? what is it that gives them such a fantastic richness of tone? processing? using b&w mode in camera?

i enjoyed using b&w film but the few i've tried playing a little with the "in camera b& w mode" have been "ech" and i can't figure out how to do it with the arcsoft stuff...i think there has to be a way but i can't seem to find it in the search...

sorry guess i should have really started another thread

 

[Carolc]

...sorry guess i should have really started another thread

No... it's cool. I'd welcome the tips, too, if anyone has any.

 

[boBQuincy]

 

[0bli0]

...any tips on digital b&W? what is it that gives them such a fantastic richness of tone? processing? using b&w mode in camera?

definitely do no use the in camera b&w mode. different b&w films and papers have different characteristics - they are much warmer than a picture with no colour. the greys have subtle brown, blue, and red tones. if you were to take a photo and completely desaturate or choose 'make greyscale' in your photo program of choice, you would find the image looks completely dull, a bit harsh, and not like a b&w photo at all. different b&w films also tend to respond to light wavelengths differently than other films - so they might be more sensitive to greens or reds. within your photo program, you can increase or decrease each of the RGB channels to accentuate what you're taking - depending on if the subject is a person, landscape, building, etc.

also, b&w film has a much higher contrast ratio so you will see lots of darks, shadow detail, various mids, and highs that aren't blown.

if you are a photoshop user, there are lots of actions that are available which are very good. but you can experiment yourself to find the look that you want.

if you are printing b&w shots at a lab - make sure you tell them not to use their b&w modes as they completely desaturate the photos.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Jann, as you know, I'm a lazy ****, so I just get Alienskin Exposure as my starting point (there are tons of B&W film emulation) and play around from that starting point.

 

[Carolc]

Wow, boB.. that's gorgeous!

 

[0bli0]

here are two for Kelly

Swan Bells

Pinnacles National Park

 

[Marinerbaby]

I love black and white photography!

 

[Carolc]

Dave - how wide of a lens did you use for Swan Bells and the skateboarder?

 

[0bli0]

they're both taken with a Sigma 15mm fisheye. i have a sigma 12-24 which is aspherical and gives the roughly the same field of view without curved lines.

 

[We-Luv-Disney]

Here are a few of mine.
TOT

USS North Carolina

The Circular church in downtown Charleston SC

 

[boBQuincy]

We-Luv-Disney,

those are all good but I love the old church, the photo treatment fits perfectly!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

we-luv-disney, how many times I should tell you to stop posting drool inducing pictures? I'm running out of bibs!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

here are two for Kelly

Swan Bells

Pinnacles National Park

Thanks very much 0bli0, now you've made me reminisce (sp) the days I was brought up in Aussie Land. I remember clearly running around those pinnacles with my parents.

 

[Carolc]

We-Luv-Disney: Excellent picture of TOT! I submitted a vote for it on pbase...

 

[kingj]

 

[michygoomy]

Fantastic pictures! I love both the castle and ToT ones, very cool.

I was disappointed with this pic when it was in color and cropped it differently, but once I converted it (not really B&W or Sepia, more of a "chocolate") I liked it enough to print it 8x10.

 

[RobinMarie]

There are some excellent photos here. I especially love the TOT one too.

 

[Carolc]

 

[BlakeNJ]

Wow. Amazing pictures from everyone! I love to take pictures of my kids but as you can see, I can't even get the picture in my sig to rotate to the correct position.