©photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman
I've always loved B&W photographs because they seem to say, "I am timeless, I need no pretty colors to attract—I am edgy."
With the age of digital also came the not having to choose between B&W and color film. This is truly a great thing, but you can't just push the "remove color" button to convert your digital color into a B&W and many people do. If you do that you'll end up with a very flat looking photo—here's an example form Michael's book, Ratio:
Do you see the difference? If you ever did any B&W printing in the darkroom you would for sure. I did 2 things— increased the contrast being careful not to push the highlights too far so they look hot and I also burned in the rim of the bowl because I lost some detail I wanted back.
This example is a subtle one—but to me the changes make it a more beautiful B&W.
Amazing how a few simple tricks make all the difference in photography. Thanks for sharing them with us!
Beautiful! I love how you preserved the integrity of the light. I still have so much to learn and your work never ceases to inspire me to try new things.
Glad to see you back blogging. It's clear I need to learn how to use Photoshop. Maybe you can do a few posts on Photoshop for dummies?
Abigail—sorry to have to disclose that I don't even have photoshop—I use Photoshop Elements, which can't do as much, but I don't like to fuss with the original photos too much.
Gorgeous! Thanks so much for the tips. I love the light. (Loved your previous post about light too!)
Beautiful light on the photo-eggs and wood make lovely b/w conversions..