Well! I was surprised and delighted to have won the latest Black and White Challenge! It was an honour to have been short-listed, and amazing that I was able to pull off the win. I definitely do not consider myself as a Black and White photographer. Thank you everyone!
And, thank you, Monica @monicac for hosting that round of the challenge and to everyone who participated by submitting an entry or in the voting process. It is this participation that keeps the 365 Project such a fun and exciting community to belong to.
I have chosen a technique rather than a subject for this round of the Black and White challenge. It is one that I hope everyone will do, no matter what your experience level. Those who are brand new to this technique will enjoy the learning process while the experienced photographers could attempt to create an amazing work of art.
Backlighting, where you illuminate your subject from the back as opposed to from the front or side, can create added drama to a shot. While you can silhouette your subject by metering for the sky, for this challenge I would like members to meter their subject so that there is some detail in the subject rather than a dark silhouette.
While many photographers use the late evening or early morning sun as a backlight, this effect can also be done at home against a window or using an at-home make-shift studio. Again, there are a ton of examples on YouTube.
One last request. There may be many members who do not often shoot black and white as well as many members who have little experience with backlighting. (I am one of them!) So, it would help me if you could please state your experience level in your commentary. I will once again be having separate voting polls for those just learning this technique and those who are more comfortable with challenging lighting and B&W photography.
I am doing this to encourage members who would not usually try a challenge such as this to give it a go knowing that they are competing against those at their level as well as to give the more experienced photographers the added challenge of competing against the best!
From Digital Photography School (sorry I forget the exact link):
“Backlighting, if done properly, can create some beautiful atmospheric and dramatic images. It takes a lot of practice to nail a backlit shot, but I think it’s worth the effort.
There’s different ways of positioning the sun in your frame. You can have it directly behind your model, just outside the image or in the shot completely. Each one will create a different effect and will influence how much sun flare and haze is captured in your image.
When backlighting, your metering plays a huge part in how successful the image will be. Shooting in manual mode will help ensure that perfect shot. When shooting towards the sun, I always meter for the models face, usually just under the eye closest to me. I know that this might blow out some of the highlights in the background or areas around my model, but I like the added glow that this creates.”
Here are some useful tips for creating great backlit photos. While most pertain to colour photography, they apply equally to the B&W side of things. There are tons more tutorials out there when you do a google search.
While it was hard to find a technique that hasn’t been used before, I enjoy using these challenges to encourage members to learn new techniques and challenge themselves. I hope you all enjoy the challenge and I'm already looking forward to seeing your entries! Feel free to upload your pictures to this thread in order to inspire potential participants and to keep the thread alive.
Start: Today – Saturday, May 2nd
Finish: Sunday, May 31st – your time zone
Please tag your entries bw-53
Oh - and please consider adding your entry to this thread to inspire others and keep this thread alive!
For reference, here is the record of the previous topics:
bw-1 High contrast
bw-2 Architecture
bw-3 Glassware
bw-4 Body parts
bw-5 Festivities
bw-6 Faces
bw-7 Landscape
bw-8 Patterns
bw-9 Still life
bw-10 Reflections
bw-11 Movement
bw-12 Seasons
bw-13 Silhouettes
bw-14 High key
bw-15 Fashion
bw-16 Technology
bw-17 Low key
bw-18 Long Exposure
bw-19 Refraction
bw-20 Expression
bw-21 Shadows
bw-22 Edge
bw-23 Flora
bw-24 Writing
bw-25 Negative space
bw-26 Speed
bw-27 food
bw-28 light rays
bw-29 animals
bw-30 minimalism
bw-31 urban
bw-32 stairs
bw-33 curves
bw-34 cracks and crevices
bw-35 Key
bw-36 Trees
bw-37 Drops/Bubbles
bw-38 The love of my life
bw-39 Fairy Tale
bw-40 Make something new look old
bw-41 Shapes and textures in Nature
bw-42 Macro/Extreme closeup
bw-43 Two
bw-44 Footwear
bw-45 Night Time
bw-46 Music!
bw-47 Toys and Games
bw-48 Abstract
bw-49 Cars
bw-50 High key/Low key
bw-51 Handles
bw-52 Bottles
bw-53 Backlighting (current challenge)
Hi Wendy - this is a super theme - thank you for presenting it. While I was reading this I happened to notice that this was theme No 53. So if each of these themes has run for approx 1 month that means that the list of topics already used dates back more than 4 years. Looking through that list made me think that there are just so many good topics which are are "off limits" and hence can't be explored by people who have joined 365 relatively recently.
This seems a shame and I was wondering if there was some way around it?
Maybe a host could look back through the list and have the option of choosing one of the early ones as a "rerun" if they so wished? They could just remove it from it's old position and put it at the end of the list.
This would give new members a chance to try the technique and would give members who have been here a long time a chance to try it again with the skills they have acquired since it was last offered.
Do you think this idea would have any support from 365ers?
Thanks for reading all of this.
Cheers Rob
@robz
I like your idea of hosts running past challenges once again.
I see no reason why they cannot do it now. and there is no such rule here that I know of. As a matter of fact, the High Key and low key have had a second run.
I think you are thinking about the Song Title challenge where the past winning songs are off limits. I like that one but, again - members can choose to change that if they want!
Thanks for your reply Wendy. I had always had the mistaken impression that the last of past topics was there as a way of preventing those topics being used again.
Do you think it would be worth adding an extra line to that section eg.
"For reference, here is the record of the previous topics. However, if you would like to choose one of the topics that has not been used recently please feel free to do so:"
:)
@allsop
This is so peaceful with the sun streaming through the new leaves like this! Love the soft shadows as well!
Thank you for entering the challenge!
@raineydaymi , @hajeka, @jackies365,
Hi, guys. I noticed that you all take B&W shots on occasion.
Would you consider entering the B&W challenge which is back lighting? Tag is bw-53 . Challenge started on May 2nd so anything taken since that day qualifies.
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This seems a shame and I was wondering if there was some way around it?
Maybe a host could look back through the list and have the option of choosing one of the early ones as a "rerun" if they so wished? They could just remove it from it's old position and put it at the end of the list.
This would give new members a chance to try the technique and would give members who have been here a long time a chance to try it again with the skills they have acquired since it was last offered.
Do you think this idea would have any support from 365ers?
Thanks for reading all of this.
Cheers Rob
I like your idea of hosts running past challenges once again.
I see no reason why they cannot do it now. and there is no such rule here that I know of. As a matter of fact, the High Key and low key have had a second run.
I think you are thinking about the Song Title challenge where the past winning songs are off limits. I like that one but, again - members can choose to change that if they want!
Do you think it would be worth adding an extra line to that section eg.
"For reference, here is the record of the previous topics. However, if you would like to choose one of the topics that has not been used recently please feel free to do so:"
:)
This is so peaceful with the sun streaming through the new leaves like this! Love the soft shadows as well!
Thank you for entering the challenge!
Thank you, Larry! Love the soft back light that makes his face glow and how his body fades into the background on each side!
Hi, guys. I noticed that you all take B&W shots on occasion.
Would you consider entering the B&W challenge which is back lighting? Tag is bw-53 . Challenge started on May 2nd so anything taken since that day qualifies.