Black and White, Four Ways

The Point-Shoot-Click challenge this week is to shoot black and white, which is my favourite medium. It forces a photographer to think in stronger contrasts, to focus on the details, to know how light works and to really know in her head what she is wanting to acheive in a photograph. I wanted to take on this challenge by illustrating the possibility of black and white in four ways:

1) 19th century daguerreotype style--I went for a softer focus close-up and adjusted the contrasts digitally in Photoshop.

Hands of a Toddler
(directional natural light, f 4.0, ISO 400, greyscale gradient added digitally)

2) casual portrait--this one has a softer sepia on it which will always make this type of portrait timeless.

Thirst
(directional natural light, f 3.2, ISO 400, custom sepia added digitally)

3) modern style--to show how black and white can be used alongside colour to add drama, something that was possible before digital but definitely easier with Photoshop!

Wine by Moonlight
(available light, ss 1 second, f 3.2, grayscale gradient and recolour overlay added digitally)

4) contrast detail--black and white can effectively showcase contrasts and directional, natural light.

Isabel's Toes
(directional natural light, ISO 200, f 2.8, digitally resized and grayscaled)

Photo Challenge #1: Backlighting

Backlighting in photography refers to the softening of a subject by the sunlight (or equivalent light source) coming from behind them instead of being directional (i.e. from the top-left, top-right, etc.) It can be a more difficult way to shoot because, especially when the backlighting is stronger, it can have a tendency to "trick" a camera or a meter into darkening the subject, although some photographers will compensate for this by using a fill flash. The effect, no matter what, is worth it because of the natural softness that the effect adds.

backlit flower

So, this first challenge is a tougher one for newcomers to photography and is to shoot a subject in backlighting. Things to watch for are how you place your subject or the position from where you shoot it: remember that the subject's back does not have to be the part that is backlit. The main thing to remember is that shooting backlight means that you are shooting toward/facing the sun or light source.

wedding couple x 2
(Note: this is partially backlit & partially directional but used as an illustraion of how a subject could be placed for backlighting)

Digital Add-on Challenge

Check your software to see if you have a High Pass feature available. In Photoshop, this is found under Filter--> Other. The name of the filter itself is misleading and many will skip over it but take a few minutes to explore it because it is versatile. I have included examples below: the more embossed result came from a lower pixel radius size while the colour alteration result came from the maximum pixel radius.


Thanks for participating. Please take a minute to participate in my poll at the bottom of this page. My first freebie will be coming soon!

Angela~Pinlight