Photo Assignment #28 - Black & White

Lets try something new, expand our toolbox a bit, and give "Black & White" a try this time.

This is a photo assignment, so try to work on all the concepts such as framing/composition, lighting, depth of field, shadows, lack of distractions, and message to be conveyed while using the B&W setting on your camera or in post-processing.

Black & White will require a bit of thought into how contrasts work with one another and the subject matter is critical to use B&W to it's full benefit and potential.

All are encouraged to submit a photo, you don't have to be a camera guru OR have a fancy camera as I believe most if not all the digital cameras made these days have a B&W function, so dust off that manual and figure out how to expand your skills! If by chance your camera doesn't have B&W, just about every post processing software package has B&W functionality.

Use this thread to post examples and to get critique. A different thread will be opened up for your actual entry submission.

This assignment will run from now, thru midnight Monday April 12th. Use this thread for current shots or shots previously taken. All shots submitted in the ENTRY thread must be taken between now and April 12th. The ENTRY thread will be opened up for you to post your actual entry. All forum posting rules apply.

Here's a couple B&W examples I have to get you thinking.








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I loved shooting B&W back when I shot 35mm. I converted a half bath into a dark room and was in heaven. Black and white to me, says more about the subject as the eye is not processing all the different colors and hues.

One more...

The first TWT photo contest I intended to enter and I was afraid I had missed the deadline......... Went camping last weekend and have many B&W shots, but couldn't download/examine/upload them fast enough last night. Now I see the deadline is NEXT Monday. Whew. But now I don't know which one to pick to enter.

I like this one in both color and B&W, but I photographed it with monochrome in mind.

I don't know why, but to my eye old buildings always seem to look better in B/W, especially wooden buildings. Maybe it is because when I was growing up in the 70's, "old" stuff was almost always shown in B/W and I just mentally associate old with B/W? As a kid, I recall thinking of the past as being in B/W because of all the documentarys and old TV shows that were in B/W. When older, I remember thinking it strange to see images from any time prior to the 60's that were in color. Of course, intellectually I understood that the real world has always been in color, even in ancient times, but it was just one of those impression things you don't give much thought too.

Gotta agree with you there Scott. I used to love digging through the old photo box at my Grandma's house. Every time I see an old building that I can explore, I try to imagine what it was like back in it's heyday.

Like this...

Tourmeister said:

I don't know why, but to my eye old buildings always seem to look better in B/W, especially wooden buildings. Maybe it is because when I was growing up in the 70's, "old" stuff was almost always shown in B/W and I just mentally associate old with B/W? As a kid, I recall thinking of the past as being in B/W because of all the documentarys and old TV shows that were in B/W. When older, I remember thinking it strange to see images from any time prior to the 60's that were in color. Of course, intellectually I understood that the real world has always been in color, even in ancient times, but it was just one of those impression things you don't give much thought too.

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Could be that, and could also be wood; more specifically, wood grain. Natural texture and form. Wood can actually represent both time and texture/form, because the grain in wood is a function of time. Think of it as wrinkles in skin. I've always been attracted to wood for both those properties; its form and texture, and its representation of and in time. Monochrome (sepia, B&W, etc) seems to tease the imagination module in our brains to 'fill in the blanks', so to speak.

(some shots from last weekend)

TexasShadow said:

(some shots from last weekend)

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Nice work.... I really like how you incorporate the black backgrounds on the black display. They just seem, so..... natural.

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So is an aged look grayscale acceptable? Or do I need to take this all the way to B&W?

I'm looking for Black & White images......

But it's still a cool shot.

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Okay, that's not my favorite of the bunch I shot for this assignment, but thought it looked better this way than pure B&W. I'll work on developing them some more and pick one.

Okay, B&W version of that one. Now I just need to sort through the others and pick one for the assignment.

This was taken a few days after the deadline.

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