OK, I need to get these photo's processed and uploaded to my Flickr page. I am running out of space on my iPad. After each photo session. I upload all my photos to my ipad from the SD card, look through them all quickly, then go back through them again and delete the obvious bad ones. Then I try to decide which ones to post to my blog and/or which ones I want to keep on the iPad. All the other will be removed. Oh, don't worry all the originals are still on the SD card and I will back them up on my computer, eventually.
(I hold one a few minutes. I need to go make some more tea. Ceylon Sonata)
It has been really hard to decide what to keep and what to remove for the last few weeks. And now I just retuned from a trip to Turkey Run State Park (TRSP). I do not have enough free space on my iPad to upload the new pictures. I did take a few in b&w. If they are good enough I will post them in Part 2 or maybe a Part 3.
(Mmmm, good tea. Ice Tea can be made from Ceylon Sonata. I made a batch a couple of days ago. Last night after getting back form TRSP I made some Ice Tea from Raisberry Tea . It needed more sugar than I normally use to make the Raisberry flavor stand out.)
(Oops, i just poured my last cup of Ceylon tea. Since I made a pot of Irish Breakfast tea before I started this morning, I should not have three pots of tea in a row. I should to switch to water or I could make some Defcaf Vanilla tea. I have only tried it once. I am not sure I like it yet. And the winner is .... Decaf Vanilia tea. After that I promise to drink water. And yes, it took me almost a whole pot of tea write and edit the previous paragraphs.)
Black and White Photography Project
A short while ago I was talking with a couple of co-worker's in the parking lot after work. One co-worker brought up my interest in photography. The other co-worker has an interest in photography as well. I mentioned this blog and told her I would sent her a link to it if she was interested. We talked a brief while and it seemed like we shared a common interest in subject matter. Nature, abstract and non-people.
I sent her the link and she sent me a black and white (I prefer the term monochrome. It is more technically correct and the & character is more trouble to type on my iPad) photo of a heavily vained tree bark that she had taken as an example of our simular interests. I have taken pictures like that a few times but never in monochrome. Like this one for example.
We emailed back and forth a few times. I mention that most of the photos I have converted to monochome did not look very good. The quality was poor. She said in her experience most software conversion not do come out well. She suggested using the cameras Black and White setting. You will get much better quality results. And she was right.
So recently on my weekly hike, I decided every picture I took I would try to take in monochrome and color. While looking for the monochrome setting I found a setting for Vivid and More Vivid. I ended up taking most of the color pictures with the Vivid setting out of curiosity. I should have used the Normal setting for a better comparison. In Part 2 I will try to use the Normal, Vivid and Black and White setting for each photo.
I am struggling with when to take a photo in monochrome as opposed to color. I am guessing it helps if there are strong contrasts between light and dark. Like the contrast between shadowy spaces ridges of the bark and the lighter spaces of the peaks or the ridges in the above link
As you will see from most of my photo's monochrome was not always the best option. Or I maybe I am not setting the exposure settings the best way for monochrome? Anyway here are the first batch.
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| I have included this oner again because it is one of my favorites despite the bad comosition. I have no color version for comparion. |
Here are three versions of the same photo, Monochrome, Normal, and Vivid. Or maybe, Monochrome, Vivid and More Vivid. I am not sure. I will have to check the original photo and see if that data is saved with the photo. I know exposure settings are saved but I am not sure if this kind of data is saved.
First of all I am not happy with any of these three. But I prefer the last color photo. With the monochrome I don't like how the foliage on the trees look. You can not tell that it is spring without the color, The blue in the sky and its reflection in the water is lost.
(Looking in the freezer. Mmm, Double Chocolate Klondike bar. My throat feels a little sore. Maybe something cold will help.)
(It helpd for a while. That was good, but I think I like the regular Klondike bar better.)
I like this monochrome photo better than the last one. But I still think the color photo is better. The tree branch is too bright in the monochrome photo. It is OKish in the color photo. I miss the blue sky and the green foliage.
I am going to end Part 1 with one of my favorite photos from this session. What initally attracted me to this scene is not readily apparent in the pictures. The sun was shining on the river and was bouncing back up lighting up the left end of the broken tree. The ripples in the water were creating ripples of light on the tree. The ripple effect is not noticeable but that fact that some golden light is being projected on the tree is.
It does not show was well in these first two photo's. In the second two it is more noticeable.
I still like the color photo better. But the monochrome version is a close second this time.
The composition of these next two are different. The monochrome version was taken at a higher angle than the color one. But I like the monochrome version enough that I choose a color version that was close enough to it to use as a comparison. In both of these you can see the rippling reflection better. You may have to click on the photo to see it at full size to be able to notice the ripple.
The golden color in the interior of the wood really pops in the color picture. I also like the texture of the wood grain and the curves of the tree in both photo's. The lose of color in the monochrome photo allows the textures, curves and shading to become the main feature of the photo. Hmm, maybe this is my first clue as to what makes the monochrome technique important.
There will have to be a Part 2. My work is not done.
