Friday, February 22, 2013

Focus on: A Monochrome Experiment

Photography Without Color


Our prompt for this week, from Focus on Life by Sally Russick at The Studio Sublime, is "Monochromatic."  We needed to come up with pictures either captured originally in black and white, or ones that we shot in color, then processed into monochrome, like black and white or sepia. 

I used the black and white setting on my camera for the first time, and it was fun, because taking pictures with black and white film (remember film?) was not that unusual when I started taking pictures. But back then, you saw your picture framed in the viewfinder, in color, and now you can see your picture on the screen in black and white. 

Interestingly, I found lots of subjects that are close to being monochromatic already, because winter is not a season of color around here. Here are the images I chose to share with you.  

Weeds and driftwood. And a little dirty snow.

Doorway to an 18th century house.

Cement mixer.























Then, I started to experiment. Here is an old weather beaten door. The one on the left was originally taken in black and white. The other? That one is in color. Sometimes you just have to find the right subject!  

Oh yeah, this one I played with by darkening the exposure.

Brings out the detail and shadows.


And finally, picket fence, unretouched in black and white, and then in sepia, cropped. 

Wait wait, one more: 



This is a shot taken in color, then played with in PicMonkey. It is ice forming on the edge of a stream. I use it as my desktop image!


Thanks for looking. I really enjoyed this one. Hope you did too. Visit The Studio Sublime to see what others have come up with!

26 comments:

  1. Isn't Picmonkey a blast? Great shots, and I especially like seeing where your experiments led you to being able to see in contrasts instead of color...awesome shots!

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  2. I wish I had looked to see if my camera had a B&W function. I especially like the old door. And good job on playing around with the effects.

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  3. I love the fence...it speaks of possibilities.

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  4. Great photos! I really like the fence with the shadow.

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  5. Oh you were having some fun with these! I love how you played with the shadows on the door - really cool! and the ice ... what a work of art that photo is!

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  6. My favorite is the cement mixer. I like that you were experimenting with the colors and other shadows etc..

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  7. peeling woodwork works sooooo well in b&w - love 'em :)
    thanks for sharing and describing the process - i learnt a lot!

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  8. Nice, everyone's getting so creative with this challenge with all the different filters and colors!

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  9. You are so right - winter has a way of making things monochromatic! Beautiful shots. (I do love the shot of the old door with some color - awesome!)

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  10. Those are all very cool. I love the one where you played with exposure. I love the contrast. That last one looks like it could be something from the ocean depths.

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  11. All your pictures are great. Especially like all the ones of the old door and the sepia fence.

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  12. Oh, I just love that old, weathered door!! All your photos are super cool - but I'm drawn to the fence,...not sure why, but it's awesome!

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  13. The ice photo is my favorite! Very cool!!

    (no. 43 this week)

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  14. ADORE that first photo of driftwood~ tres beautiful and speaks to my soul.

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  15. All of your pics show wonderful dimension and depth. An outstanding job.

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  16. Yep I have albums full of Black and white photos... that I took! I remember taking the pictures to the drugstore and anxiously awaiting their arrival back a week later... usually very disappointed in the outcome! Gotta love digital photography! I'm quite taken with the old door!

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  17. oooh experiment indeed! Sure looks like you had a great time stealing away all the colour. So much richness left behind. I love the shots side by side of the old door, very cool to see

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  18. You did a lot of experimenting! Good for you. The picket fence in b&w is my favorite.. I think or is it the ice?!

    The fence one makes me want to walk along it to see where the road leads.

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  19. Fantstic shots, and great photo editing too!

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  20. Beautiful shots! I love the sepia.

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  21. Goodness. . .all your pictures are very neat, but the one of the picket fence really captures my attention. There's something about the line of it leading off into the distance that kind of gives some suspense to the photo. Very cool.

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  22. You even made a cement mixer look intriguing! :-) My favorite is the weather-beaten door....gosh, I just loved that chipped paint and character!

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  23. You did a great job with your pics. I especially like the door!

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  24. Hi, I've just joined and posted my first weekly series. I enjoyed every photo! My favorites are the the sepia fence and the weathered door. And WOW what a great screen saver :-)

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  25. It's interesting how different a photo can look with different color casts, isn't it?

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  26. Beautiful, Beti! I absolutely love that old door...

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