I love Black and White. Post your favorites

by **wide-angle-vision** on Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:57 pm

I just love black and white photography and the beauty of shooting in colour and having the power to convert to B&W and the tools to dodge and burn.
This is a shot of the cloisters at Norwich cathedral, in fact it's 9 shots stitched together then converted to B&W in silver efex pro 2 with a slight sepia tone added, then back to photoshop for some dodge and burning.

Up load one of your own favorite B&W shots and add any techniques and software you use

See more of my photography at http://www.wide-angle-vision.co.uk

by **ravens-eye** on Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:13 pm

Nice idea & welcome to the forum.

I like the way you've processed your image. Never used Silver efex, is it worth getting? Only processing software I use is Photomatrix Pro (for any HDR work) & CS5.

I have 2 favorite B&W images that I've taken both on a visit to The Dales this year.

Coniston Water by Ravens-Eye Photography, on Flickr

Silence by Ravens-Eye Photography, on Flickr

by **wide-angle-vision** on Fri Sep 02, 2011 6:29 pm

Thanks for the welcome.

Two very nice images, I don't think you can beat B&W.

I did do a lot of B&W conversions in photoshop and I still do a few that way, silver efex is good for ready made conversions and they can all be tweaked and adjusted to suit exactly what your looking for. It also has settings for all those old B&W films and you can add some nice grain structure too. It also uses u point technology the same as Nikon's capture NX.

Add me on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wide-Angl ... 17?sk=wall

by **Mark Sykes** on Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:26 pm

Sorry for posting so many, but I've kept the size down to compensate.

1. Manchester Town Hall 2. Manchester Town Hall 3. Bridge of Aspiration

4. Sudbury Hall 5. St Mary's Church - Fountains Abbey 6. Manchester Airport

7. Norwich Cathedral 8. Iron Man 9. Cunard Building

10.. Harley Davidson 11. Cadillac 12. Cadillac

13. Glencoe area 14. The Second Wave 15. Dead Horse State Park

16. Zion 17. Rhyolite 18. Cathedral Cove

I just use Silver Efex.

by **ravens-eye** on Sat Sep 03, 2011 4:45 pm

Great shots.

Think I will have to try a copy of this software. Im sure it's 90% photographer, 8% camera & 2% software, but if its the software to have when converting to B&W, I guess I should be using it :wink:

by **ALwin** on Sat Sep 03, 2011 5:23 pm

ravens-eye wrote:Great shots.

Think I will have to try a copy of this software. Im sure it's 90% photographer, 8% camera & 2% software, but if its the software to have when converting to B&W, I guess I should be using it

It's a plugin for Aperture and Lightroom, one of the best B&W refining tools ever.

by **wide-angle-vision** on Sat Sep 03, 2011 7:26 pm

I have to agree about the silver efex software, it's got to be one of the best programes I've bought for digital photography.

Lovely B&W shots Mark, my favorites would have to be Iron man, love the silver look of it, great B&W shot, and the car shots are also favorites.

I'm one of those people who doesn't really have a favorite subject, I just like to photograph things because I want to see if they look good as a photograph.

Another image, North Norfolk Coast UK

: MAL_0151_47_48_49_50bw.jpg (100.23 KiB) Viewed 859 times

Add me here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wide-Angl ... 7706242017

Website http://www.wide-angle-vision.co.uk

by **simon3116** on Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:32 am

Silver Efex is excellent and well worth downloading the free trial, an older version would make a great free CD giveaway in a magazine, hint, hint.

These three shots were all processed in the free 30 day trial version.

Through the storm by simon.stanley@rocketmail.com, on Flickr

Footsteps by simon.stanley@rocketmail.com, on Flickr

church by simon.stanley@rocketmail.com, on Flickr

These last couple of shots are processed in CS4 after the trail ran out.

three boats by simon.stanley@rocketmail.com, on Flickr

Wilton Windmill by simon.stanley@rocketmail.com, on Flickr

by **wide-angle-vision** on Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:56 pm

Like the church shot Simon, some good tones in there. I'm trying to get some good shots in the bag down in Cornwall at the minute but the weather is terrible

,

by **BrianMDoucette** on Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:41 pm

One of my most recent uploads to the galleries, I love the conversion on this one, and the light was perfect IMO....

Regards, B...

by **singingsnapper** on Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:17 pm

Here are a couple of mine:

Surprise! Gloomy skies across Windermere by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Blea Tarn black and white by singingsnapper, on Flickr

by **wide-angle-vision** on Sun Sep 11, 2011 9:34 am

Some nice work going up on this thread.

Even with all this new technology and new camera's coming out every six months people are still in love with black and white photography, I think it's the timeless quality of the medium that keeps it alive.

This one was taken at Morston on the Norfolk coast one evening, I was there just out for a walk with the family and as always I took my camera. B&W conversion done in silver efex pro 2, slight sepia tone added, then some dodging and burning in photoshop plus curve adjustment and sharpening.

I'm just back from Cornwall, the weather wasn't to good but I managed to get a few shots, will post some B&W ones on here as soon as I've gone through them.

Add me http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wide-Angle-Vision-Photography/105257706242017

See my Website here http://www.wide-angle-vision.co.uk/

by **mike mijares** on Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:32 pm

Quezon City Wildlife Park in 850nm

ACR+ PS CS5

by **Kinetic** on Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:39 am

This was taken with my phone.I love it too much not to mention it.

)

Best regards.

by **wide-angle-vision** on Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:45 pm

mike mijares wrote: Quezon City Wildlife Park in 850nm

ACR+ PS CS5

Nice infrared image Mike, I much prefer B&W infrared to colour, although B&W shots can look good with a bit of blue sky to give that surreal look.