Welcome to Flash of Red February 2021! February is a great month to explore black and white photography because it is only 28 days long. It gives you a little more than just a dip into the genre but not too much to overwhelm you if you’ve never explored it before. If you are a beginner, you can acclimate yourself to “think in black and white” one of two ways: 1) Use a perceptual aid like a monochrome viewing filter. The grayish-amber filter darkens the view and “forces” your eyes to use the rods instead of the cones and lessons the eyes’ extra-sensitivity toward yellow-green. In a sense it takes away your ability to see things in full color. 2) Use the monochrome live-view/preview on your camera which shows you the picture as it will appear in black and white by simply desaturating the image. It will be up to you to further process your picture after the shutter is pushed. If you’ve worked with black and white before you may not need these tools, but they do come in handy if you’re wondering how the shot will turn out in want an idea of it in advance.
This week’s theme is Landscapes. Let’s start off with some insight from Photography Talk ( https://www.photographytalk.com/):
There are many elements to taking an excellent black and white photo. Naturally, the way you compose the shot will have an enormous impact on the final result. The technical qualities of the image matter a great deal as well. But before you can address those elements, you must first know what to photograph.
Determining subject matter can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re a beginner photographer. “There’s nothing to photograph” is an often-heard phrase, yet there are plenty of options for your black and white images, even in your own backyard!
Landscapes represent an excellent opportunity for black and white photography because they often have the dynamic elements that are necessary to make a black and white image pop.
Just like when shooting a landscape in color, black and white landscapes benefit from foreground interest to draw the viewer’s eye inward. Look for shapes, lines, textures, or patterns in the landscape, like rocks and trees, or as the case in the image above, the wind-swept patterns in the sand.
These easily recognizable components provide some tonal separation – areas of light and shadow – and make the image much more dynamic. Tonal separation is critical for black and white landscapes because, without it, the tones you see as you gaze upon the scene in color may blend together once the image you take is converted to black and white. When shooting landscapes in black and white, look for elements that will give depth and dimension to the shot. Areas of light and shadow, textures, lines, and patterns are all highly effective elements for adding interest to a landscape.
BUT…
What if you can’t get out and about? What if you’re limited to how far you can go and you don’t live in a place where a backyard is available? This year we’re lifting all the former perimeters of years past so that we can still explore black and white in a covid-impacted world. In other words-
• You can convert archived or previously posted color shots and see how they look in black and white. It’s a great experiment and teaches you a lot about how the two genres are so different.
• You can creatively construct your own “landscape” through composites or crafting materials at hand to make them look like a landscape, cityscape or anything in between. Let your imagination have fun with this one- but don't forget- the final image has to be black and white!
We’ll be exploring black and white landscapes from February 1 through February 7.
Tag your photos FOR2021 and feel free to post them in the discussion thread below as well.
Two final thoughts for inspiration-
A landscape image cuts across all political and national boundaries; it transcends the constraints of language and culture. Charles Waite
My goal is to interpret reality. Anyone can see the landscapes I photograph, but with my camera I try to capture the details and features that the eye cannot see. Franco Fontana
I a m truly grateful for you and all the effort you put into this for us! It is a lot of work and you don't get nearly enough recognition for all you do! Thanks Ann
Thanks Ann for putting this challenge together again. In the past I've really enjoyed taking part. I'm hoping that this year the challenge will help get my phojo back on track.
So glad you're all taking part- I'll add you to the tags for next week's post.
@mittens Me too Marilyn- I'm hoping to take a drive tomorrow but we're supposed to get snow Sunday night into Monday so I'll be house bound for a few days! Yes, I agree- it should be fun, so go for it!
@olivetreeann I did this challenge last year. I used photos from my archives that hadn’t made it to my 365 pages yet. It was a fun way to use images I loved but never used before. Thanks for hosting again.
@melanne There are no Flash of Red police (o; You're free to shoot as needed. The weekly prompts are guidelines but I don't hold people to keeping them exactly unless they want to.
Archive shots are just fine Sandy. I may be using a few of my own as we've just gotten almost 2 feet of snow dumped on us over the last 24 hours!
Although I do have a record as to who joined in each year, I don't reuse the tags in respect to people's privacy and choice, so I wouldn't automatically tag you at the start Jacqueline- but I'll add you on now!
There is no such thing as a "dumb question" so not to worry.
Yes, Ellen. Landscapes from Feb. 1 to Feb. 7 (Feb 8 will have a new topic). You can shoot current landscapes or use archived shots. With so many world-wide lockdowns and folks forced to stay home, it seemed fair to broaden how we get the shots for FOR this year. BUT, there are no Flash of Red police or monitors- so if you feel like shooting something different it's up to you. If you do follow the weekly themes, the calendar looks really cool at the end of the month.
The "Flash of Red" takes place on February 14th when we use selective coloring on the day's black and white shot. It does not have to be a heart! And some have used other colors as well. I think red looks best with black and white though. Since the 14th occurs during next week's theme, I will include a short tutorial on how to do Selective Coloring (although I know you're already familiar with it after that cool Coke shot last month!). Anyhoo...when you look at your calendar at the end of the month, there's a pop of red close to the center and it looks really neat. I think if you look up old flash of red calendars, you can see what I mean. You should be able to find them under the tag FOR2020. Here's what mine looked like:
@olivetreeann Thanks so much for the good explanation, and your calendar from last year does look very cool. I look forward to your tutorial, as a refresher is always welcome!
I found looking for a landscape trickier than I thought it'd be. I gave up on finding any natural scenery and just tried to look differently at the urban area I live in.
@gardenfolk No, that's fine. The list was if you wanted to be tagged for the notification of each new week. I'll add you on- and you are welcome to join in whatever way you'd like. Glad you're taking part in FOR!
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So glad you're all taking part- I'll add you to the tags for next week's post.
@mittens Me too Marilyn- I'm hoping to take a drive tomorrow but we're supposed to get snow Sunday night into Monday so I'll be house bound for a few days! Yes, I agree- it should be fun, so go for it!
So glad you're joining in!
Thanks for joining in Ellen and Becky Jo!
Glad you're all joining in!
Archive shots are just fine Sandy. I may be using a few of my own as we've just gotten almost 2 feet of snow dumped on us over the last 24 hours!
Although I do have a record as to who joined in each year, I don't reuse the tags in respect to people's privacy and choice, so I wouldn't automatically tag you at the start Jacqueline- but I'll add you on now!
There is no such thing as a "dumb question" so not to worry.
Yes, Ellen. Landscapes from Feb. 1 to Feb. 7 (Feb 8 will have a new topic). You can shoot current landscapes or use archived shots. With so many world-wide lockdowns and folks forced to stay home, it seemed fair to broaden how we get the shots for FOR this year. BUT, there are no Flash of Red police or monitors- so if you feel like shooting something different it's up to you. If you do follow the weekly themes, the calendar looks really cool at the end of the month.
The "Flash of Red" takes place on February 14th when we use selective coloring on the day's black and white shot. It does not have to be a heart! And some have used other colors as well. I think red looks best with black and white though. Since the 14th occurs during next week's theme, I will include a short tutorial on how to do Selective Coloring (although I know you're already familiar with it after that cool Coke shot last month!). Anyhoo...when you look at your calendar at the end of the month, there's a pop of red close to the center and it looks really neat. I think if you look up old flash of red calendars, you can see what I mean. You should be able to find them under the tag FOR2020. Here's what mine looked like:
@aikiuser Ahhhh color oh no!!! just kidding. no problem!
http://365project.org/olivetreeann/toys-on-365
@stephomy Good for you! I'm all for seeing things in new ways!
Thanks for joining in- I will add your names to the tag list Sylvia and Beryl!