Picture Black and White: Storytelling

Let’s finish this black and white exhibition, shall we? The power of black and white is perhaps most evident in documentary photography.  The important part of this type of work is telling an entire story in a single shot. Theme six for Picture Black & White was storytelling.  I have again included some of the lovely compliments my classmates left for me on my photos.

Shoot a Documentary: Documenting a moment in a single shot is one thing, telling the whole story is another. The trademark of the most widely recognized documentary shots is using a wide angle lens and including a lot of what’s going on around your subject.

I come back to this image from Italy last summer again and again. I don’t know them, but I feel as if I do!

• So cute!
• This looks like it should be in a travel brochure! Wonderful!
• What a great capture! Love your processing!
• Great capture of a great moment!
• I just love their expression.  So happy it’s contagious.
• I like the soft B&W! They look so happy and you captured that.
• Great slice of life moment!
• So fun! I love the reflections in their sunglasses.
• This shows the great time this couple is having – and you were right there enjoying it too.

 

A Detailed Study: Storytelling truly lives in the details.  Find a way to capture a shot that might communicate something you may have never thought of.

My daughter giving her doll “a bath.”

In Context: Including the big picture in your image can help you tell a larger story than you could tell by zooming in on your subject. Be sure to include the context that you feel makes your shot today so that we know exactly how you want us to feel today when we “see” your story.

When in doubt, pull out the Italy photos. We came upon this street performance in Rome, and I have many photos of the musicians and singers but only this one of the entire scene.

Expression: Today, your job is to capture someone or something as they express themselves.

“I am so not amused.”

• classic.  great perspective.
• Great expression! Nice light and angle.
• Fun!
• Oh yeah, the expressions a cat can give… 🙂
• oh this kitty is not happy  🙂
• Priceless!
• This is the best! Love how huge his feet look in this shot! No, he doesn’t look pleased, that’s for sure!
• love this – cats certainly do give us some great expressions!

See previous Picture Black & White posts: graphic elements and light, texture, messages, and nature.

Picture Black and White: Nature

It’s time to catch up with Picture Black & White and theme five (of six): nature. It did seem counter-intuitive to be focusing on nature when there is so much vibrant color to be found, but we found the beauty, the detail, and the texture of what is in nature to be so beautiful in black and white.  I have particularly loved the community-building in the class and want to remember some of the lovely compliments people have given me about some of my images, so I’ve included a few here.

The Sky is the Limit: We often wait for sunset to shoot the skies above for the glorious colors, but when you’ve got a monochromatic mind all you have to look for is depth, texture and light.

Storm clouds about to cover up the blue sky and sunlight.

• That is just stunning.
• Very dramatic!
• Beautiful! I love when the light hits the clouds like that. Great image!
• Love the contrast in the clouds!
• i LOVE this in b&w!!
• Fabulous storm clouds!!
• Spectacular! Love all the tones in this!
• So many layers! Great contrasts.
• wow. what depth!
• sensational!! love all the layers and how the sun lights that one puff of cloud ~ awesome : )
• wow that is one fierce sky!

• Love the branches in the foreground.  Pretty!
• Love the feel of this!!  magnificent ~ love how you framed this! : )
• Wonderful contrast! Love the little berries!
• Very cool shot
• I really like how the light sky divides the frame… just beautiful!

Grounded: Perhaps it’s the unexpected angle, the curious perspective or the feeling that it evokes. Use the ground as your muse. Explore, discover, connect with the earth under your feet today and see what happens!

Enjoying this lovely little droplet in post-processing.

• poetry!
• oooh! Stunning!!! That focus is amazing!!!
• wow, fantastic light and focus!
• oh wow soooo beautiful!! :-))
• the droplet is perfect!
• Gorgeous…just love that little drop!!
• That water droplet is like a hidden gem. Great capture.
• Absolutely amazing. Love what looks like an entanglement between grass and the clover.
• Beautiful b&w, love your focus and of course the water drop
• beautiful! love the angle here with the droplet of water….
• This is gorgeous! Frameworthy for sure!

Clover in my backyard

• I love seeing the little hairs on the clover. Nice!
• Love the focus and light!
• Beautiful light and detail!
• love the light :-)) and how it brings out all the charming details :-))
• this is so pretty!
• love your photo! the light is amazing.
• Such fabulous focus, lovely tones!!
• I never knew clover had the fine little hairs on the leaves. Great detail!

Lens on Landscape:  Take a look at the landscape around you and look for magnificence, splendor, glory. Consider shape and texture balance and of course lights and darks. Get lost in your landscape today.

It was fun converting this to B&W since my reason for taking it originally was the fall foliage. I used an HDR-like filter to bring out the contrast.

• I like the way you’ve captured the dense foliage… I’ve tried this and it’s harder than it looks… great job.
• lovely details and composition. great bw capture :-))
• looks like a path to somewhere lovely
• i love how the road keeps it all in control. just wonderful.

Getting Intimate: When the tiniest and seemingly insignificant things appear larger than life in our images, we are drawn in and even enchanted.  There is a magic and mystery that lies beneath what is usually obvious to the eye.  Revealing something poetic of the inner workings of nature can be so creatively satisfying.

• Great macro! I love the wispiness.
• Such beautfiul wisps!! Great capture!
• so delicate and lovely!
• like fireworks! beautiful … : )
• Ahhh – delightful!
• Love all the wispy parts!!

The Growth Process: How can you frame the growth process in nature in a way that somehow distills what can seem intangible? Black and white shots that we find in nature today can help us to focus more on the gesture than anything else so watch for a twist, a turn, a bend, a bow or anything that shows that process.

Gerber daisy before it unfolds its petals

• oh such great stuff.  love all the interesting details in here :-))
• Awesome! I love this. The light and lines are great.
• stunning macro!!
• amazing … such wonderment all about us! great photo! : )
• This is wonderful! Love the little droplets of water on it and all the beautiful tones.

• Gorgeous, love the light
• OMG – the detail on this is fantastic!!!
• amazing light and texture – love it!
• great and awesome light shining on these buds :-)) pretty cool all the details
• So delicate
• Love the hairy little things.! Beautiful light.
• this pretty much took my breath away … amazing. : )

See previous Picture Black & White posts: graphic elements and light, texture, and messages.

Photo Friday: Picture Black and White

I am already halfway through the two-month Picture Black & White class and am really enjoying it.  In looking beyond the color when taking a picture, I’m learning what graphic elements make up a strong image and how to arrange them, as well as how light brings things to life.  I have particularly loved the community-building in the class and want to remember some of the lovely compliments people have given me about some of my images, so I’ve included a few here.

Lining Up

• Lots of lines and the shadows just add to it. Love that little bit of curve too.

• oh those shadows. wonderful detail :-))

• My eye was drawn to the curved line amongst all the straight ones. Then I saw the shadows. Very nice.

• the shadows caught my eye right away too–it made me think of a sailboat!

• I agree — the shadows show up so well in b&w! Love all the straight as well as the curved lines!

• love your photo! the shadows and light are amazing and show up so well in b/w!

• oh, i love your perspective! and the cute little tootsies poking out!
• This is fabulous I really really love it.

Lining Up: My hand

• Wow! This is amazing. I thought it was a leaf from the thumbnail and it would have taken me a long time to figure it out.

• So creative. looks like a topographic map. Which, I guess, it is… 🙂

• what a cool interpretation, love it!

 

• oh wow, never thought of it before to capture this so close 🙂 magical

 

Lining Up

• Fab! This wouldn’t have the impact in color. 
• I like the juxtaposition of the curves against the straight lines of the sidewalk and bricks.
• it looked like a big potato masher on my phone! Love it!
• I like the way the shadow gives it an abstract feel.

Seeing a Pattern: I thought this flower stem was pattern-ish.

• Great pattern. Love the little dotted lines.

• such an interesting capture. Love the light.

• what a brilliant ‘eye’ you have to see the pattern in it. Very cool capture!

• How delicate, love the white dotty lines.

Building Blocks: A Street in Italy

• Very cool shot…love the perspective.

• love these cobble stone street… this is wonderful in black and white.

• Wow, you’d have to be careful walking down that street! Love your focus!

• Gorgeous! I absolutely want to go in and explore! 

• Pic draws you in and up the steps.

• A beautiful picture, love the way the staircase draws the eye into the frame.

• Breath taking! So glad you converted this. Absolutely beautiful.

• I remember walking that stairway and thinking how millions had done so before, you captured all that with just one photo.

White Out: Capturing your subject void of the darker tones of shadows and featuring mostly the light ethereal “keys” of white is often referred to as “high key” imagery.

• This looks so feathery and soft! Beautiful.

• very nice…i love all the wispy detail!

• You did a great job! Definitely looks ethereal. Lovely!

• Ooooh, this is just wonderful!

• I love the softness of this shot! It is so pretty!

High End

• Soo pretty! Love the flowers in the foreground and the darker bushes in the background. Nice.
• I love this. It feels like it is super sunny outside. The dark tunnel draws the eye into the photo too.
• I like the texture in this. I think this would look great in a more traditional black and white processing too.
• Even in b&w it feels like a sunny, warm day. So neat.

Rim Light: As soon as I read the prompt, I thought of this snapdragon macro I took in February.

• Very nice! Love all those little details! 🙂

• perfect perfect perfect!!

• This is amazing! Had no idea what it was, glad you told us! Great abstract, but oh the light and texture!

• Naomi, this is so wonderful! That light! My snapdragons are just about gone. I am going to go out to look at them again. I haven’t seen this viewpoint.

• Oh my word! This is surreal! I love the texture and the light. Beautiful!

• Love all those points of light!

In Contrast: Found this from my archives and it practically screamed “pick me for this prompt!”

In Contrast

• This is really beautiful. I wouldn’t have thought to use the water reflections as the light portion of a contrast picture. It’s brilliant!
• Such a great capture of beautiful droplets!