Black and White Reveal

Bet you're tired of this photo by now!

In the end, it seems that most commenters chose the color version as their favorite, and I can't say that I blame them. What prompted me to do all this blacking and whiting was a very interesting article by Mr Jake Garns about the 'unsupported' nature of most digital black and whites. His point was that in most black and white printing of the past, other colors were introduced into the process, whether in the paper or the inks or what have you. This created a richness that digital black and whites simply don't have. He suggests using the duotone feature in Photoshop to give more richness to your blacks. The tutorial is here. I suggest you check it out.

So I decided to do my own experiment. I gave you the color image (1), then a duotoned image (2) (which most of you referred to as 'sepia' in the comments, close enough). And then the image with a black and white layer added to it in PS (3), with a curve to bring out all the details in her eyes and clothing and give the contrast I felt the image needed.

My favorite was the simple black and white conversion in Photoshop. I'm not sure if I did the duotoning process wrong, or chose the wrong colors for the image, but I felt that it lost a lot of detail and became pretty muddy. However, it's not a tutorial I'll forget. I may look it up one more time.

Confusing all of this, of course, is the issue of monitor calibration, and the fact that these images probably looked pretty different depending on which monitor you looked at them on, since there's a lot of fine detail in the highlights that could easily be lost on an overly bright screen.

And then that brings us to image number 4, the one in this post, which I processed in Silver Efex Pro. I feel like this one captures the detail on her face best. But is it my favorite? I'm not sure.

*Still not sure about this new comments option. Lots more people did comment on the last post than usual, but it seems not to be working for some people. Let me know.*

Black and White, What Do You Think?

Ok, here are three versions of one photo. Which one do you like best? Tomorrow I'll tell you what makes them different, and what my preference is. But first, I'd like to hear from you.

Also, I've changed some things about the way comments are organized from here on out. Hopefully it will improve the whole commenting experience. Let me know if it works or doesn't work for you.

Gesture

The great Jay Maisel always says that the aspects to look for in a photograph are 'light, color, and gesture.' I think he's completely spot-on. And to my detriment I think on average I spend more time looking at the first two than the third, which is arguably more evocative at times. This photo is an attempt to bring the three more into balance and start capturing some of the gestures all around me.

Somewhat related, the rather whimsically name photographer Miss Aniela has a good recent post about the nature of photography and the tension between 'contrived' vs 'natural' shots. Worth reading, I think, if only for a look at her images which are quite good, and mostly fall into the 'contrived' category.

More Leaves

Some more leaves I found on my Dec 24th walk. I must admit that I arranged them on this storm drain, as the way I found them wasn't as compositionally pleasing. You can see the difference that the light makes. Since these were on the ground they were basically front-lit, and you can't see the structure of the leaves as well as in my previous leaf post. But I do appreciate the contrast between the natural and man-made here, and the difference in texture between the smooth leaves and the rusting storm drain.

Also: if you're still on the fence about making New Year's Resolutions (which I am for, honestly, because why not?), you might want to check out Gretchen Rubin's 6 Tips for Sticking to Your Resolutions or (the more photography-appropriate)  The Online Photographer's advice about what kind of resolutions you'd be better off making.

And it's not too late to get on Jim M Goldstein's list of photoblogger's best of 2010. The deadline is January 8.

Plus, a look at the question: is digital cheaper than film? Not sure how I feel about that, honestly.

SF MoMA - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Wow.

Yesterday that was all I could say. I felt like I had been breathing in the essence of photography. A bit like pure oxygen, it left me slightly light headed and a little euphoric. Why? I went to the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at SFMoMA with my mother and her boyfriend , and it was incredible.

Room after room of amazing black and white prints, gorgeously composed. After about one or two rooms I kind of got it. I started to abstract his photos in my head into the lines they were made up of. Triangles, diagonals, one photo I remember clearly was arranged like a kite: a rhombus of four gentlemen sitting at a table in the foreground, and then a line leading us into the background. And of course, the images are not pure exercises in geometry. They all captured a moment that meant something probably to the world and then also something intensely personal to the subject.

We all know of HCB as the coiner of 'the decisive moment'. But he was also an excellent portraitist. In particular I loved his portrait of Camus, and his photo of Coco Chanel I found quite insightful as well.

The exhibit runs until January 30 and I whole-heartedly recommend it. There's something about seeing the prints in person that just can't be experienced seeing images on the web. If you live anywhere near San Francisco, you have no excuse.

I took these at the museum. It's a gorgeous space. Processed in B&W as kind of an homage to HCB. They don't hold a candle to his work, as they are not as personal or arresting. But I thought I'd post them anyway.

Some Resolutions for the New Year

A couple of posts ago I talked about my 2010 resolutions and how they worked out (mostly pretty well, actually). Inspired and hopeful for 2011 to surpass 2010, here's my list of photography resolutions for the new year:

*Post one self-portrait on the blog a month
*Write one personal story about myself on the blog each week
*Make my photography business profitable (in the black! this is a big one)
*Create 2 more photo books, mostly just as an exercise for myself
*Write an ebook
*Get my photos and Lightroom catalogs organized
*Have another swap on the blog (soon! look for it in the next couple of weeks)
*Give away one downloadable desktop wallpaper a month
*Get my website up and running (this one will happen this week, come hell or high water)
*Learn how to light, well
*Create my own Photoshop actions, so I don't spend all my time doing the same few things, over and over
*Continue Anatomy of an Image, make it better and more informative, and then actually do it every week!

*Have fun with it all. Because in the end, that's the most important thing.

What about you? What are you resolving to do, or resolving not to do? Or are you just not resolving?