It's become somewhat of a tradition here on 365 to dedicate the month of February to improving our black and white skills, with a little dash of color on the 14th. After the first year, we combined this with a book study and the rest is, shall we say, 365 history. This year I'll be using the book "Black and White: From Snap Shots to Great Shots" by John Batdorff. It's available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and paperback versions. You don't need the book to participate, but it helps as I only post a summary of it each week (and don't worry- it's quite affordable!).
Here's how it works- the month is divided into four weekly segments and each week a different section of the book is highlighted and photos are taken accordingly. On the 14th we add a little dash of red to our black and white shot using selective coloring. Again- the use of red is optional (but the monthly calendar looks really good with that flash of red!) and if you're unfamiliar with this effect, instructions can be found here:
It looks like the layout will work as follows-
February 1-7: Equipment and Settings, When to Choose Black and White, and Composition and Layout.
February 8-13: Exposure 1, Landscapes, Portraits
February 14: Flash of Red
February 15-21: Exposure 2, In the Studio, Post Processing, Film Effects
February 22-29: Storytelling, Sharing Your Images
Weekly summaries will review the reading material and give you some direction on what to shoot in the coming week but still giving you plenty of room to pick and choose your own subject matter. More weekly details to follow soon!
Tag your photos "flashofred2016"
There will also be a discussion thread each week where you can post your favorite shot of the week with fellow "Flash of Red Photographers". Leave your @tag below if you'd like me to notify you with the weekly posts.
No more work - no excuses. I will give it a go again this year. I was looking for some inspiration. And an excuse to buy another photography book for my kindle. @kiwinanna
Count me in my B&W photography leaves a lot to de desired and this will make me try harder! It looks as though I will be having radiotherapy all through February so it will be good therapy for me to try to keep up with the rest of you!!
This is exciting! Many new faces and some returnees too! I've been reading through the first chapter today and will finish up chapter two, then post the "short version" for you soon, so you can be prepared for Feb. 1!
@northy You're welcome! Actually you are probably beyond the technical aspects of this book, but he does have some artistic advice that is always good to revisit- as in composition and contrast.
@moonmtn You will be able to participate in this with any camera- even an iPhone camera. Glad you'll be joining us Kahsia! @la_photographic@debbyglynn
Glad to have you joining in Laura and Debby!
Ann, you said to tag our photos "flashofred2016" and to leave our @tag below if you'd like me to notify you with the weekly posts. I am very new to this. How do I tag the photos and what is my "@tag" Thanks
@difof105 After you've uploaded your picture, a screen will appear which shows your picture, a place for you to write about the picture, and then underneath that there is a box which says "tags". The tags work in a similar fashion to the ones on facebook only instead of names you can use words that describe the picture. So for example, let's say you take a picture of a tree for Feb. You could put in your tag box flashofred2016, tree, black-and-white, and whatever else you might want to put there. When you want the tag to be a combination, like black and white, you have to put the dashes in between the words, otherwise they list separately.
The calendar runs from Monday to Monday here, so what I do for Flash of Red February is every Sunday I post a summary of some of the reading and then the "assignment" for the week. That's a loose term because it's really just a guideline for ideas. And no one checks to see if you've done your homework! I usually invite people to post their favorite shot of the week in the discussion thread if they want. There will be instructions on how to do that when the time comes. The tag is helpful if you want to see what other folks are doing on this theme. When you pull down the menu under the browse button, you'll see "by tag". Click on that and then type the name of the challenge into the search bar and a couple different options will appear to choose from- select photos and you'll be able to see all the other posts with that tag.
I hope that helps! Feel free to ask more questions if something isn't clear. It's kind of hard to think through all the steps and not do them!
I'm in! I've not been uploading the last couple of days but I'm so bad at processing and my black and white photos usually just look dull so I'm eager to learn! Challenge accepted! Woo! :) @dishaparekh176
Just realised, after having read the book, that I might struggle to do February 15-21: Exposure 2, In the Studio, Post Processing, Film Effects as it is mostly about digital (even the film effects) as I am using film this month and not using Photoshop and I don't have access to a studio. I can do multiple exposures and use different filters or else take photos, put a couple together and re-photograph them (which I will be doing the following week for the 52 week challenge). It will also be a while before I upload the photos as they are sent off to be processed and printed.
@la_photographic Laura adjust the week as you see fit- there's really no hard and fast itinerary to follow here. Choose something from the previous weeks you'd like to work further on, or make up your own adaptation from what you've read. Bravo to you for shooting film!!
Thanks for joining us Disha, Paul and Rosan! You're never too late for this "challenge" since it's not a competition where votes are cast. I've added you to my ever-growing list! The next summary will be up on Sunday.
@pandorasecho I will add you to "the list"! I'm already thinking ahead to next year and am planning to go less technical and more compositional this time. Actually when I first started this thread it was purely artistic. But somewhere along the line we combined it with Katie's book club. The books are good but I feel tethered by the chapters. So next year, there'll be a little change up!
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For the first time I am actually going to buy the Kindle book and follow along, so I am participating fully this year!
@annied
(thanks for organising this once again)
@barb48
I just managed it last year and look forward to having a try again. Please include me. Thanks!
This is exciting! Many new faces and some returnees too! I've been reading through the first chapter today and will finish up chapter two, then post the "short version" for you soon, so you can be prepared for Feb. 1!
So glad you'll be joining in and looking forward to seeing your black and white shots!
@la_photographic @debbyglynn
Glad to have you joining in Laura and Debby!
Thanks for joining in Mimi and Di!
The calendar runs from Monday to Monday here, so what I do for Flash of Red February is every Sunday I post a summary of some of the reading and then the "assignment" for the week. That's a loose term because it's really just a guideline for ideas. And no one checks to see if you've done your homework! I usually invite people to post their favorite shot of the week in the discussion thread if they want. There will be instructions on how to do that when the time comes. The tag is helpful if you want to see what other folks are doing on this theme. When you pull down the menu under the browse button, you'll see "by tag". Click on that and then type the name of the challenge into the search bar and a couple different options will appear to choose from- select photos and you'll be able to see all the other posts with that tag.
I hope that helps! Feel free to ask more questions if something isn't clear. It's kind of hard to think through all the steps and not do them!
Thanks for joining in! First week post will be up tomorrow!
@cristinaledesma33 Glad you're joining us!
@mzzhope You're welcome Hope! I know you'll have some beautiful ones for us!
@eudora Thanks Diane! Glad you're taking part!
My apologies for the belated welcome folks! We have 69 people taking part in this challenge- wow!!!
@dishaparekh176
Thanks for joining us Disha, Paul and Rosan! You're never too late for this "challenge" since it's not a competition where votes are cast. I've added you to my ever-growing list! The next summary will be up on Sunday.