Steven November 4th, 2009
While looking for November’s Photo of the Month for my other site, SierraVisions.com, I came upon this image in my files. Not only did I make it the photo of the month, I also turned it into my newest black and white image.
When I shot this photo last November, I remember liking the way the main elements in the image contrasted. To me, the chaotic nature of the tree branches working with the simplicity of the tree trunks and snow covered ground create a very interesting scene. That contrast didn’t show up to well in the color version, but in the black and white it’s very powerful.
When I began working on the black and white image I had a hard time getting the scene to look like I wanted it. The tree trunks kept going black on me and the branches had way to much contrast. I also had problems with the snow on the ground wanting to blow out and go pure white. I was getting pretty frustrated and considered giving up on the image. That’s when I had an idea that I had to try. I thought maybe if I did an HDR of the color image and then turn that into black and white I could keep some detail in the tree trunks and the snow. It worked nicely. Not only did the HDR keep the snow from blowing out, it also preserved the shadows on the ground that are such an important part of the image.
I then proceeded to process the image the way I do all of my black and white images. In Photoshop, I use a combination of Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro and adjustment layers to get the look I want, (Someday I’ll have to do a tutorial on my B&W technique.)
Steven October 5th, 2009
This image was shot at Hyde’s Mill in South-west Wisconsin. What a cool little place.
We drove 150 miles, one way, just to see this beautiful little mill. It was worth every mile. When we got there it was very cloudy, perfect conditions for shooting the mill. The sun came out a little later and the scene became way to contrasty. Along with the mill there is an old blacksmith building, a bunch of grinding stones and three old rusty turbines.
In processing this image I did something I’ve never done before. I used Lightroom’s develop presets. Normally when I work on a black and white, or in this case sepia image, I do all the work in Photoshop and use a combination of Nik Software’s Silver Efexs Pro and adjustment layers. I wanted to do a black and white image of this scene and for some reason I started clicking on the presets. When I clicked on the sepia one I liked what I saw, then I clicked on a couple more and things really got interesting. I played around with the contrast, added a vignette and then exported the image.
Then I opened it up in Photoshop and continued to play around with it. I used Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro to add a little more vignette and to reposition it a little. I also did some burn work here and there and did some more contrast work with adjustment layers.
Before we left on this trip, I had a vision in my mind of the image I wanted from the mill. This image is pretty close to what I saw in my mind. It’s almost as if my subconscious knew what I wanted and clicked on the right Lightroom presets to give it to me.
Steven September 17th, 2009
Here’s a new black and white image from our trip to Badlands National Park in South Dakota last spring. I’ve been trying to find the name of this formation, but I can’t find it online. If anyone happens to know it’s name, please leave a comment for me. Thanks.
Steven September 4th, 2009
This image of the Kewaunee South Peirhead Lighthouse in Kewaunee WI was originally a horizontal, color image. On the day I shot it a haze had settled over Lake Michigan washing out the sky and creating a very harsh light. The only reason I took the picture was to document it for my Lake Michigan
Lighthouses page.
Though I didn’t care for the lighting in the picture, I was intrigued by the the fisherman sitting at the end of the pier. So I cropped the image vertically in order to make the fisherman a more important part of the scene. Then I forgot about the picture.
A couple weeks later I was looking through my images for possible black and whites when I came upon this picture. I thought it might make an interesting black and white, so I began playing around with it. Almost immediately I had a nostalgic feeling about this shot. It just felt old to me. Something about the lighthouse and that fisherman. This image could just as easily been taken a hundred years ago in 1909.
Because of that nostalgic feeling, I decided to give the image an aged look. I added grain to it and a fairly heavy vignette. I felt that the grain added texture to the image that gave it that older feeling I wanted. The vignette also added to the old feel, and it helped fill in that washed out sky.
This image is a good example of never giving up on a picture. Maybe the original wasn’t the best shot I’d ever taken, but with a little artistic vision and modern imaging software, I was able to create an image that I like a lot and that I’m very proud of.
