Exercise 15 - black & white

Armed and dangerous with some tips from the black and white pro's:

Ø        Avoid shooting with the sun behind you - your after contrast!

Ø        Whilst flat/dull days are poor for colour, their great for black and white - get out there with your camera and experiment.

Ø        What works in black and white? - the same as what works in colour...

Ø        On the other hand, a  poor colour image with a good tonal range can be 'worked' very effectively in black and white.

Ø        Black and white is very good enhancing depth.

I took my camera out with the specific purpose of taking black and white photographs for these next few exercises; it was a cold day with a very harsh sun and a good sky.

Interestingly I took shots that previously I would not have considered taking. By this I mean, shots that contained 'noise' or possibly more accurately 'clutter' - with the absolute belief that this would be removed/minimised/irrelevant because of the black and white processing. It took me back to an interview with Liam Neeson and the making of Schindler's List. The reason for black and white was so people could focus on the story not the detail of the film - for example, the blood. Colour is a very strong visual element and people are easily distracted by it, substitute this with grey and detail goes unnoticed.

The photograph selected here is rather nondescript and if it had remained a colour image would have been unlikely to catch anybodies eye. As a black and white image it is much more interesting.



The Street - as shot

Image information: f/11, 1/125, ISO 200

In terms of processing I tried a number of different black and white conversions: -

Ø        Greyscale - the result was fine, but felt rather clinical and stark.

Ø        Desaturate - for this particular image I couldn't see any difference between this and greyscale.

Ø        Gradient Map - this provided good contrast and I liked this result. I also liked the 'reverse' capability and the ease of which the image could be tinted.



The Street - sepia



Ø        Channel mixer - I found this a useful tool and ideal for quick conversions.

Ø        Black & White - this option provided the greatest flexibility and was also the most intuitive to use.

My favourite final image was obtained using a black and white adjustment layer.



The Street - using a black & white adjustment layer

One of the most interesting lessons learnt form this exercise is the use of 'channels' to examine your image - I had never noticed this tab on the layers pallet. When flicking though other images, even those destined to remain colour, I find it provides great insight into how you can work with your image to bring out its better qualities.

Exercise 14 - my interpretation

Original photograph

This particular photograph was taken on a miserable, windy winters day - I was attracted to the strong sculptural feel.

Sky replacement

Option 1 - remove the grey sky to provide a colour contrast and lift the mood of the photograph, I also lightened the stairs to give them a more natural feel. The overall colour of the composition is better, but I prefer the shapes of the original clouds.

Old fashioned...

Option 2 - sepia filter, I appreciate that applying an aging filter to a modern steel spiral fire escape is not the most obvious thing to do, but I'm glad I tried. I like the way the detail is picked out on the checker-plate.

"Pop art" steps

Option 3 - I decided to give it a pop-art make over because.....

Moody

Option 4 - this is the result of playing with layer blending options: 1st layer - multiply; 2nd layer - exclusion. This is my favourite result and whilst it might be a bit surreal, I think this version of the image communicates the feel of the day very accurately.

The Pdog19 library update

The library has been busy, but not with what you would call reading material - more picture books. I have been absorbed by guerrilla art. Namely:

Street Knowledge by King Adz
(2010, Harper Collins)

Adz states that "Whether the point of exhibition happens to be in the corporate world via advertising campaigns or 'underground' written on the walls and the bridges of our urban environments - makes absolutely no difference; the only think that matters is impact and visibility on the street.

Adz has travelled all over the world, spending time with, working with, and collecting the work of urban artists. The aim of the book is to document the influences on urban culture over the last 30 years and chart its progression from its origins to where it is today. This is indeed a big ask for one book, but Adz gives it a good go. The drawback being because of the number of artists covered it is somewhat superficial, but it does provide a good taster of what is out there. Plus if your interested in any of these artists you can usually find them on the web.

The writing style will certainly not be to everybody's taste, but the colour reproductions of the art in the book are excellent.


Trespass - a history of uncommissioned urban art edited by Ethel Seno
(2010, Taschen)

This book is some 300+ pages and full of photographs of graffiti from around the world. Each photograph has a caption providing minimal information, normally a location and year; sometimes it includes the name of the artist and the duration of the piece (before removal by the authorities).

In comparison to Street Knowledge (above) there is no information about art, artist and evolution - its just photographs. Nonetheless, it is an inspiring collection of art and well worth the read. For me, the most surprising element of this book was the incredible sense of humour of the artists - there were numerous occasions when I laughed out loud.


Street Sketchbook by Tristan Manco
(2007, Thames and Hudson)

"Sketchbooks retain an eternal fascination. The sketches of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Picasso, for example, are regularly exhibited around the world's museums to huge audiences. Our reverence for them has endured through time, as has their role as repositories of ideas and as sanctuaries for drawing. Working out thought on paper may seem antiquated in this increasingly high-tech world but this process is far from dead."

This book contains sketchbook extracts from over sixty contemporary artists world wide. It provides a brief write up on the artist, their style and approach to art, plus any affiliations (street art). In addition, and most interestingly, is goes on to discuss the relationship between the artist and their sketchbook.

The last page of the book provides a list of websites for the majority of contributing artists - this is a very nice touch.

Exercise 13 - managing colour

There are a number of ways to 'manage colour' in Photoshop: -

1. Using Auto Colour via the menu bar: Image > Auto colour. This is the most radical option because its automatic and it discards image information - one click and its done.
2. Using Auto Colour via a Levels or Curves adjustment layer.
3. Using the 'eyedroppers' via a Levels or Curves adjustment layer.

All three options give similar results. My personal preference is option 3 because you can hope around the image selecting different coloured areas until you find one that give the desired result.

The three images selected were shot in JPEG. They have been colour corrected only and would all require further post processing prior to use.

Image 1 - blue colour cast

Image 1 - colour corrected

Image 2 - mixed lighting, flourescent and daylight

Image 2 - colour corrected

Image 3 - mixed lighting, soduim and halogen



Image 3 - colour corrected



Exercise 12 - managing tone

Starting point - an abstract image of yacht rigging taken through wet windscreen.

NEF in camera

Alterations made in RAW converter:

Ø         White balance changed to Cloudy

Ø         Exposure reduced by 0.3

Ø         Recovery set to 30

Ø         Blacks set to 31 (just prior to clipping)

Ø         Contrast set to 40 (increase of 15)

Alterations made in Photopshop:

Ø         Further adjustment made to black/white points using Red/Green/Blue sliders

Ø         Brightness unaltered

Ø         Contrast very slightly increased

Final version

Auto-corrected version

The auto correction function in Photoshop gives a darker and bluer image that one I created. In reality, this is probably a more accurate representation of the day/scene - it is certainly closer to the in camera version.