Black and White photos.

[Longgrain]

There's already one discussion going on about the use of black and white http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x59 and some very great pics, so I thought we could have another thread for posting black and white photos.

I'll start with four of my own.

These are just scans of prints from back in my darkroom days. I wasn't a photo major in college, I was a painting major, but took several photography courses on the side. I thought it would help me with my sense of composition. As you can see, I have a flavor for broad shapes and patterns.



I don't have a photoshop program right now. These were done using old fashioned dodging and burning techniques. I'm only learning digital now, but I would love to someday get back into the darkroom.













Maybe I'll post some more later.

[Rocinante]

1. Interesting

I like it. Most people look at an industrial site and only see the ugliness. You've done a great job with the angles and the contrasts.

[GOPFighter]

2. Nice!

I really like the second picture.

[Longgrain]

3. I was alway trying to look for the beauty

in the mundane.

Thanks for the comments. I got a few more I'd like to put up later, and I can't wait to see some more of your own soon.

BTW. Rocinante. I liked those pictures you posted in the other thread. Real class act stuff.

[Philostopher]

4. I like black and white for architectural stuff, especially.

I have many of Art Deco buildings in and around the Midwest, though many of them were torn down to build ugly glass shoeboxes in nearly every city in the part of the country I've been in.

The two here are scanned off a contact sheet, I never had the full-sized photos done, the full-sized photos probably would be at least marginally sharper than these. The Bulova clock is in the lobby of the airport, as you head through for the airstrips. It's not as impressive as it might have been with different lighting -- I took it at a time the light from behind (through the front glass windows) was really too strong, and the reflection on the face of the clock kind of throws it all off.



The night shot of the airport was taken with the camera on a tripod, balanced on the hood of my old Toyota Camry, from the parking lot across the street. I set the tripod on the hood and sat on the edge of the roof with a cable release so I wouldn't jiggle it. I think it was 400-speed film, so it won't be as sharp as it could be anyway...

[electricmonk]

5. Good stuff

I like the various angles of the pipes.

Here's a couple of mine.






And one more.

[okasha]

18. Love your tree-very Atget-ish.

Have you tried it out in sepia?

Okasha

[Longgrain]

6. These are all looking great so far.

Interesting how much different theses picture would be if they were in color. Most of the mood would be instantly lost. For example the first one of the clock by Philostopher. For all I know that could be a bright yellow clock with a pastel pink wall above. A much different effect.

Here's a few more of my own, these were experimental in that I didn't have access to a darkroom when I took them; I just dropped the film into the bin at the drug store and hoped for the best.

I think they came out interesting at least.











A little off topic, and just for fun, here's one I thought didn't quite come out...





But look what happened when I added a little color.






A photo of a painting, I guess that counts...;-)

Incidental most of my pictures were taken around the state of Massachusetts. Since most of you outside of the Bay State probably don't make it over to the Massachusetts State forum. There's a thread about photographs going on right now.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x1952

I'll probably be posting a few more of my own over there soon. And I made sure to give the photography group a good plug too. :thumbsup:

[stranger_with_candy]

7. here's a few

relatively new to photography so any insight is appreciated!!
http://cache.fotofanatic.com:81/Files/SZ/2/1/4/21445-450x450.jpg

http://cache.fotofanatic.com:81/Files/SZ/2/1/1/21153-450x450.jpg

http://cache.fotofanatic.com:81/Files/SZ/2/1/9/21945-450x450.jpg

[Philostopher]

8. Nothing wrong that I can see with any of them.

I get a lot of entertainment out of using a circular polarizer and bracketing shots like that, especially ones with a lot of sky -- taking them above and below 'perfect' exposure, and rolling the polarizer around. Not everybody likes a lot of sky contrast, but I sometimes do and sometimes don't.

I don't have many of my B&W pictures digitized, and really you seem to have a pretty good eye for it -- I'm only a moderately experienced amateur myself -- but I do like playing around with that kind of stuff.

[Longgrain]

9. A couple more of my own...

obviously done in the darkroom. I was photographing shadows, so the light was intense. This one could have used a little longer of an exposure down at the bottom...



This one's conceptually similar, but I just couldn't get the sky the way I wanted it...the upper corner would always come out whitewashed...

[alfredo]

10. Here's some of my photos

http://homepage.mac.com/alfredo_tomato/The_Greenhouse/PhotoAlbum12.html

Here some more. There are some color photos mixed in.

http://homepage.mac.com/alfredo_tomato/PhotoAlbum1.html



And finally, did you know that Viagra comes from Trees?

[SiouxJ]

11. Those are fantastic!

the compositions remind me of Edward Hopper (my favorite artist).

Thanks for sharing! Very cool :thumbsup:

[Longgrain]

12. I thought I'd add a couple more.

I like working in series' of conceptually similar themes, as you might have notice, the factories, the trees,...for some reason graveyards...



I'm not really a morbid person, honest, this one I always felt was kind of poinent...and it ties in with the factory series as well...

[Touchdown]

13. Great minds think alike.

I did these about 13 years ago.




My first internet pics. I just signed up for PhotoBucket. I hope they're not too large.:shrug:

[Longgrain]

14. Thanks

Mine were done in college around 1992...12 years ago so it looks like you beat me to the punch...

BYW your pic size is just right...if your new to photobucket, I seem to find, the size of the image on your screen before uploading it, is about the size the image will appear on the net...

P.S. I'm still realtivly new at it too...

[stranger_with_candy]

15. i love cemetery photos

have many myself. here's one i took this past fall. this one is not a B&W but have many from the same cemetery that are.

[Longgrain]

16. Awesome....

And what beautiful part of The country you must live in...

Here's another...not black and white...pic

Fairly standard, more of a commemorative piece...



To a great lady...


On edit, maybe we should have a graveyard thread;-)

[stranger_with_candy]

17. I like that one too

I'm in southern New England so there are lots of old cemeteries around...

[okasha]

19. Cemeteries are full of fascinating images,

especially the ones that have some history behind them. I'm doing a series--actually, two series, one color, one b&w solarized--on cemetery angels from the turn of the last century. Here's a couple of them in straight up b&w:

[Longgrain]

21. Here's another one...

Though not in black and white...since the subject is cemetaries...

This a pretty creepy place t0o, it's in the middle of the woods on the edge of my hometown...It used to be for inmates of an insane asylum that's no longer there. All the head stones are just pipes with numbers on them. The head board with the crucifix has the names of the inmates, but no numbers, so you know who is buried here, you just don't know where to find them.

[outraged2]

27. your angels are great...

I especially like the one on the bottom.

I have one cemetary angel that I am just crazy about.... here she is:



If ever you are in or near Dallas you might add her to your series.

[okasha]

29. Thanks, outraged2!

That one on the bottom took a blue ribbon for the photo category of an all-media show back in October. I can see why you're crazy about the one you posted. Which cemetery is she in? I may well be in Dallas in the next couple months, and she's a perfect candidate for the series. (Which is called Angeles del quinto sol, by the way. Angels of the Fifth Sun.)

I really like your musician gnomes. They must be brightly painted, but they're far more powerful in black and white than I suspect they'd be in color. I love the way you've gotten contour and texture in them. Of the horsemen, I think I like the pony express rider(?)best. Digital's great, but nothing beats fine darkroom work.

Okasha

[outraged2]

30. more info

I don't know the cemetery name off the top of my head, but I will get it for you. It is a great old cemetery with lots of monuments, (considering the relative youth of dallas). I should run out there myself and get some better photos.

The musicians are actually bronze. I love them. There is a park close to my house where they live. There are the fiddler, horn and a dancer marching around a small japanese maple, and others scattered about napping, pondering under a tree, one riding a tortoise etc. They are really great. I was happy when I found them.

The cowboy statues are actually driving a herd of larger than life bronze steers through a park next to City Hall in downtown Dallas.(Pioneer Plaza I think they call it) Cattle is not really what Dallas is known for, but it is a nice installation all the same.

[outraged2]

31. Grove Hill

Grove Hill - 3920 Samuell Blvd

Its just a few miles east of downtown right off I-30

[Rocinante]

20. Here are some

that I like as black and white.





I zoomed in on and lightened this one to try and make out the prisoners' features a little more.

[Longgrain]

22. Finally some thing more humanistic

After all that gloomy stuff. Black and white gives a photo a certain sense of seriousness, but in the case of your ones with the kids, it also gives the viewer a sense of nostalgia, I loved them...

I wasn't the photographer here, my dad was. It an old picture of someone near and dear to my heart when he was barely three years old...
I posted it before in one of those Lounge "post a picture of you doing some thing stupid as a kid" threads but i thought I'd post it here again for fun...

[outraged2]

23. a few

[Longgrain]

24. I love those

Nice contrasts between the gray shades...really brings out the whimsy in the faces...

We're these digitally done...or done in the dark room?

Either way, congratulations! That's some classy stuff.

[outraged2]

25. thanks!

We're these digitally done...or done in the dark room?

... ancient SLR and time in the darkroom. I wish I had access to a dark room all the time, but I can't take anymore photo classes for a while so I can't get into the school lab. :(

[Longgrain]

26. I prefer the dark room too...

And haven't had access to one since college...
Post some more when you can though...:thumbsup:

[outraged2]

28. more