Can't believe it is already the last day of February! I have really, really enjoyed doing the Black and White Book Club with you all and am excited to see what kind of monthly calendars you have to share! Post a screen shot of your calendar below and share any thoughts you have about the book club and the month.
(Any version, complete to incomplete of your calendar view is welcome. Mine will be a day behind, since I always post delayed. To share, take a screen shot of your monthly calendar page and then crop, if wanted, upload, and then share here.)
Missing the Book Club already? Read all the posts here:
@archaeofrog It has been a really long day for me. My mind is not thinking clearly. Can you explian how to make a screen shot. Is there a special way to do this or should I just take a shot of my calendar with my camera?
@daisymiller That would work too. Most computers have a button, usually labelled "screen shot" or "print screen" (mine is prt sc) that will take a screen shot. Less sure how to do that on a phone or tablet ...
I really enjoyed doing the bookclub. I can't say that I was always thinking about the ideas for the week but I did try to get at least one or two a week that came from that idea. I learned a lot and was definitely thinking about how something would appear in b&w. I also learned a lot about Lightroom in the process as well. I am ready for some color as you can see my monthly collage that I created in Ribbet. Oh and I think of a calendar with the week starting on Sunday so also wanted to create the collage that way.
Thank you Katie for hosting another bookclub. Your efforts in providing weekly text and summaries is really appreciated. I did manage to obtain the book in time and followed it throughout the month. However, I have to agree with Katie that sometimes it fell a bit short in explaining certain concepts.
The exercise has reaffirmed my love of black and white photography and it has been a great experience learning and applying the different modes of black and white - low and high key, contrast, tones and the use of grain.
I used the in-camera mode of black and white a lot of the time which really had me seeing the shot in black and white. Often when I did shoot in colour I would then change to the b&w mode to try and get a better idea of how the shot might look in b&w.
I discovered that shooting in colour first and then converting to b&w gave me a bit more flexibility with tones etc when editing in Lightroom.
Another thing I've discovered is the transformation a shot can undergo when converted into b&w and the different effects and feelings that can be conveyed by the processing.
I wish I had had more time to engage in weekly discussions just like a bookclub. Oh well, there's always next time. Thanks again Katie @archaeofrog
I cheated one day for my get pushed challenge. It was a little weird committing to doing black and white every day, but now I feel like it will be weird to go back to color.
I think I got this right! I have had a sometimes fun, sometimes daunting month. It has been an education at any rate. I know I struggled with some of the requirements, but I am working my way through processing photos. Black and white was fun, but I am looking forward to colour again! Thanks Katie.
Here's mine. Thanks so much to Katie @archaeofrog for hosting the book club and to the community for taking the time to visit and give comments, favs and follows. The book club came at a good time as I spent Jan doing a colour theme, so I was ready for this!
Like @adayinmallacoota I shot in RAW and B&W mode on my camera, so that I could 'see' what the shot would look like. My biggest learning curve was the high key shots, which I think I eventually sussed out. I was determined to get these 'in camera'!
I loved the processing part and was amazed at how a b&w photo changes when you put a coloured filter over the top. I mostly use Picasa and Photoshop when I need more control for processing and have learnt so much about b&w processing in these tools as well.
I have fallen in love with b&w again, and am sad to let this go. I have a feeling that I will return to b&w later in my project.
I have my screen shot but don't know how to post it here!?
I joined 365 in February, and became aware of the book club in week two. I have really enjoyed the month and taken plenty of photos of things I would not usually have done. Have always loved BW so was keen to learn, but have only just started! Used raw and bw in camera which was a first. Explored Aperture more, filters, experimenting with the Nik software as described in the book. An excellent start to 365. Thanks so much for the encouraging comments.
Thanks so much Katie. I really enjoyed it. Didn't find always the time to follow the book but I sticked to the black and white. I also learned a lot about my camera settings and going manual.
Here's mine.
It has been a very instructive experience. I appreciated Katie's @archaeofrog explanations and summaries, very useful to focus quickly on the week's topics.
I need to go through the book again since I didn't have much time to go in depth, but I certainly improved my b&w knowledge and technique.
This is a very effective way to experiment and doing it together under expert guidance is just great: Thanks, Katie @archaeofrog
@archaeofrog thanks so much for keeping this moving Katie - I may not have followed the book .. exactly - but i now have it as a resource! and will be diving into it for sure! Really enjoyed doing this for a whole month. Great learning curve. I didn't start til week 2? Hence the colour pic :)
@lleo Gwellian, you have to upload the screen shot to your album. Since you are not an Ace member and don't have extra slots, you could try changing the date to right before you started 365 and see if that works. Otherwise you'll have to give up a daily slot to share it.
Thanks Katie, Had a great month, sometimes a challenge always lots of fun I learn't so much and can now safely say I will go from hardly ever shooting in black and white to always considering it as creative choice.
Thanks again Katie for hosting this - it's been really intresting. Although I haven't always followed the topic for the week i've gained a lot from it and hope to carry on working at black and white. I do really love it but haven't achieved what I want yet - still enjoyed it though.
Thanks so Katie for hosting this I had a great time, my book didn't arrive until later in the month so didn't read much but at least i have it to refer to. I really enjoyed doing this and have found a love now for black and white photography. I have learnt much more about tonal range too. I used 28th February to take the screen shot of the month so don't have a photo for that day. Great Fun thanks
@archaeofrog thank you so much for hosting this book club Katie!I have gained a new found appreciation for black and white photography because of it.I find myself thinking about whether an image would benefit by being processed in black and white or color,based on what I am trying to " say" with the photograph.Since I am very new to Photoshop,I chose to shoot as I normally would and then process in black and white.The book was very informative in this area! I had a wonderful time this month...but my experiments with black and white photography will continue!Thanks to everyone for all of the camaraderie ! :)
@kali66@stephomy wasn't it frustrating to be told to shoot in colour for a Get Pushed challenge in the middle of this? Three of my challengers acknowledged I was doing the b&w bookclub and could use b&w, one insisted on full colour - I'm an Ace member so didn't have to worry about putting those challenges elsewhere, but it did make things harder. I was so cross my second album has a rainbow of colour the week of that challenge.
@shannejw I tried processing both in black and white but they looked better in colour so I went with it. you can always ask for an alternative push I suppose.
Thanks so much for hosting the book club, Katie. I bought a different book on b&w by Michael Freeman because the suggested text looked so complicated! Even so, I have learned so much, totally pushed myself out of my comfort zone and produced some images which would have been beyond me in January! What a great theme for February.
@shannejw I had that same problem! I finally went back and politely asked for another push, because it was clear my partner had not really spent any time looking at my photos. She simply saw black and white, assumed it was all I did ever and challenged me to shoot in color! :P
I bought his Photo School Black & White book - link above, it's a really easy to read and useful.... probably more basic than your book? I have enjoyed it so much that I have gone a bit mad and bought a more from the series. Got the Street Photography book to read on my very long train journey yesterday. Another fab book ... just need to find some bravery somewhere!
@shannejw That color picture/situation was so hilarious I had to share it in all it's glory. I love how excited my daughter gets about my project. I think she agonized over me posting a color picture more than I did.
Well, it's not the best of calendar shots- but it gets the job done! I'm not feeling well enough to really go for a top of the line picture. If you want to read my thoughts on Patterson's book, click on the picture and stop by my project. Thanks! http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2014-03-01
Thank you Katie for doing a fantastic job of recapping each section and assigning what to shoot each week. You did a great job as always! @archaeofrog
@archaeofrog My calendar has several holes, but nonetheless, this was an amazing learning experience for me! Katie, thank you so much for hosting this bookclub and posting the weekly summaries. I really liked the structure of reading about specific techniques and then putting them into practice. Please add me to your list for the next book!
I learned a lot about myself, and photography, through my participation in the Black and White Book Club. Upon reflection, some personal changes I would make for myself based upon this experience are to:
1. Order the book in advance, and complete reading it before the month begins. This would grant me greater familiarity with new material before I need to apply it. I did not feel emotionally ready to take new photos for all of the assignments because the material was so new for me, and most of my energy was spent just trying to grasp this new knowledge. In those situations, I felt it was OK to apply what I learned to old photos I had already taken, but not yet published. I'm not sure why this makes a difference to me, but it does. Probably because I like to delve thoroughly into a few things rather than multi-task on more techniques on less-deep levels. Well, it's not that I like to learn that way--that's just how my mind is set up, and how I'm best able to learn.
2. Copy and paste the weekly assignments into one document, and print them out as one syllabus. Again, because I love to read I was so focused on just reading the book and understanding the material, that I really wasn't even aware of specific themes for each weekly assignment until about mid-month. Also, it wasn't as intuitive for me to access different discussions to read each week's syllabus, so I didn't refer back to the goals of each assignment for clearer understanding as much as I would have had I printed out all assignments into one syllabus. It's my fault for not making the extra effort to create this single document, and I'm so happy Katie provided the links above all in one place. Also, still need to set-up the new printer, so that prevented me from printing out the assignments at a convenient time and place.
I really enjoyed learning about the tradition of black and white in art, film and various media. I also benefited from the discussion of the general characteristics of black and white photography, and learning about monochrome. It gave me a great feeling to attempt low-key, high-key and abstract shots, as well as to experiment with silhouettes. I loved all of them! It was fun to try applying filtered black and white, infrared, neon, inversion, heat map and duo-tone processing techniques, as well as learning to adjust exposure, contrast and saturation to manipulate gray tones. Feel a little more familiar with HDR. I did spend a lot of time reading the book to page 122, then skipped to Section 3 as I felt bad struggling with the worry that some of the technical information may not be as transferable to my camera and available processing software as I would have liked. The greatest thing about this project was having the experience of being more emotionally open to learning new things and the freedom to act upon constructive criticism, which was helpful.
I'm so grateful to Katie and the other members of the book club for this experience, and to the author for making it possible. Thank you so much!!! Would definitely do another book club, too. :)
This was a great learning experience for me. Thanks for setting it up. I loved the idea of learning from the combination of a book, trial and error and discussing.
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This is a photo of the computer screen, so the resolution may not be the best.
The exercise has reaffirmed my love of black and white photography and it has been a great experience learning and applying the different modes of black and white - low and high key, contrast, tones and the use of grain.
I used the in-camera mode of black and white a lot of the time which really had me seeing the shot in black and white. Often when I did shoot in colour I would then change to the b&w mode to try and get a better idea of how the shot might look in b&w.
I discovered that shooting in colour first and then converting to b&w gave me a bit more flexibility with tones etc when editing in Lightroom.
Another thing I've discovered is the transformation a shot can undergo when converted into b&w and the different effects and feelings that can be conveyed by the processing.
I wish I had had more time to engage in weekly discussions just like a bookclub. Oh well, there's always next time. Thanks again Katie @archaeofrog
I think I got this right! I have had a sometimes fun, sometimes daunting month. It has been an education at any rate. I know I struggled with some of the requirements, but I am working my way through processing photos. Black and white was fun, but I am looking forward to colour again! Thanks Katie.
Whilst I love b&w, I'm so glad I had the ability to post more than just b&w images in alternate albums.
Like @adayinmallacoota I shot in RAW and B&W mode on my camera, so that I could 'see' what the shot would look like. My biggest learning curve was the high key shots, which I think I eventually sussed out. I was determined to get these 'in camera'!
I loved the processing part and was amazed at how a b&w photo changes when you put a coloured filter over the top. I mostly use Picasa and Photoshop when I need more control for processing and have learnt so much about b&w processing in these tools as well.
I have fallen in love with b&w again, and am sad to let this go. I have a feeling that I will return to b&w later in my project.
I joined 365 in February, and became aware of the book club in week two. I have really enjoyed the month and taken plenty of photos of things I would not usually have done. Have always loved BW so was keen to learn, but have only just started! Used raw and bw in camera which was a first. Explored Aperture more, filters, experimenting with the Nik software as described in the book. An excellent start to 365. Thanks so much for the encouraging comments.
Here's mine. Not qualitatively the best pictures but I'm proud of myself :)
It has been a very instructive experience. I appreciated Katie's @archaeofrog explanations and summaries, very useful to focus quickly on the week's topics.
I need to go through the book again since I didn't have much time to go in depth, but I certainly improved my b&w knowledge and technique.
This is a very effective way to experiment and doing it together under expert guidance is just great: Thanks, Katie @archaeofrog
It was interesting. I need to go back and really read some of the sections to try some of the other things properly.
Thanks again Katie for hosting this - it's been really intresting. Although I haven't always followed the topic for the week i've gained a lot from it and hope to carry on working at black and white. I do really love it but haven't achieved what I want yet - still enjoyed it though.
@archaeofrog Thank you for hosting the book club. I did not have the book, but I really enjoyed exploring black and white this month.
Here's my month of B&W!
Thanks so much for hosting the book club, Katie. I bought a different book on b&w by Michael Freeman because the suggested text looked so complicated! Even so, I have learned so much, totally pushed myself out of my comfort zone and produced some images which would have been beyond me in January! What a great theme for February.
I bought his Photo School Black & White book - link above, it's a really easy to read and useful.... probably more basic than your book? I have enjoyed it so much that I have gone a bit mad and bought a more from the series. Got the Street Photography book to read on my very long train journey yesterday. Another fab book ... just need to find some bravery somewhere!
so pleased i finished this.
@archaeofrog thanks for starting the project! what's next? :-)
http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2014-03-01
Thank you Katie for doing a fantastic job of recapping each section and assigning what to shoot each week. You did a great job as always! @archaeofrog
1. Order the book in advance, and complete reading it before the month begins. This would grant me greater familiarity with new material before I need to apply it. I did not feel emotionally ready to take new photos for all of the assignments because the material was so new for me, and most of my energy was spent just trying to grasp this new knowledge. In those situations, I felt it was OK to apply what I learned to old photos I had already taken, but not yet published. I'm not sure why this makes a difference to me, but it does. Probably because I like to delve thoroughly into a few things rather than multi-task on more techniques on less-deep levels. Well, it's not that I like to learn that way--that's just how my mind is set up, and how I'm best able to learn.
2. Copy and paste the weekly assignments into one document, and print them out as one syllabus. Again, because I love to read I was so focused on just reading the book and understanding the material, that I really wasn't even aware of specific themes for each weekly assignment until about mid-month. Also, it wasn't as intuitive for me to access different discussions to read each week's syllabus, so I didn't refer back to the goals of each assignment for clearer understanding as much as I would have had I printed out all assignments into one syllabus. It's my fault for not making the extra effort to create this single document, and I'm so happy Katie provided the links above all in one place. Also, still need to set-up the new printer, so that prevented me from printing out the assignments at a convenient time and place.
I really enjoyed learning about the tradition of black and white in art, film and various media. I also benefited from the discussion of the general characteristics of black and white photography, and learning about monochrome. It gave me a great feeling to attempt low-key, high-key and abstract shots, as well as to experiment with silhouettes. I loved all of them! It was fun to try applying filtered black and white, infrared, neon, inversion, heat map and duo-tone processing techniques, as well as learning to adjust exposure, contrast and saturation to manipulate gray tones. Feel a little more familiar with HDR. I did spend a lot of time reading the book to page 122, then skipped to Section 3 as I felt bad struggling with the worry that some of the technical information may not be as transferable to my camera and available processing software as I would have liked. The greatest thing about this project was having the experience of being more emotionally open to learning new things and the freedom to act upon constructive criticism, which was helpful.
I'm so grateful to Katie and the other members of the book club for this experience, and to the author for making it possible. Thank you so much!!! Would definitely do another book club, too. :)