Are you ready? No, not for the Superbowl! No, not for the next big storm if you live in the Northeast like me. Are you ready for Flash of Red February?! Our first week will focus on pages 1-21 in Andrew Gibson's ebook "The Magic of Black and White 1". You don't need the book to join in, but I highly recommend it. Here's a summary of what we'll be covering:
Gibson begins with the obvious question, "Why study black and white?" Black and white photography removes the "heavy lifting" that color often does in a picture. It forces us to look at tones, textures, and lines in new ways. By taking away the color (which emphasizes the reality of a subject), black and white interprets it artistically. Gibson says, "the key to successful black and white is learning to see in monochrome, but not all subjects are suitable for black and white. This means the photographer must search out subject matter that is best represented by black and white."
Most digital cameras have the ability to shoot in black and white. The camera actually takes a color shot, but the image you will see in your view finder will be black and white. Gibson feels this will be helpful in training you to see in black and white. So if you are new to this genre, this may be helpful to you. If you've done black and white before, many experts recommend shooting in color and then putting the shot in black and white during post-processing. There is no "right" way to approach this. It is truly a matter of personal comfort and appeal.
Gibson then covers five important aspects of shooting in black and white: tonal contrast, highlights, simplicity (and minimalism), complexity and shape and form. This week as you develop your ability to see in black and white, take each of these elements into account. Focus on one aspect in particular and feature that in your pictures. I would recommend one of the following-
Simplicity: simplicity is achieved by stripping away all the unnecessary elements of a picture until you are left with only the important parts of the picture. How do you know what that is? Think of what drew you to the shot in the first place- a face, a texture, a pattern, or tonal contrast. Whatever it was ask yourself how you can make that the prominent feature of your picture.
Another approach is to eliminate all the distracting elements in your picture; especially those in the background. Distractions are anything that pulls your eyes away from the main subject. The main subject should be supported by the other elements in the photo- not competing with them. The less you have in the picture the better. Minimalism is simplicity to the max.
Shape and Form: are the two important visual elements of your subject. Shape is how the subject looks in a 2 dimensional format; form is how it looks in 3D. Silhouettes are a good example of shape. But form is a challenge to bring out in photography. However black and white gives you a distinct advantage in accomplishing this. It draws attention to the shadows and flowing lines that depict form. Side lighting is also helpful in showing form. Front and back lighting will obscure it. A photo comprised of shape but no indication as to form lacks depth. But showing form adds depth.
If you do have Gibson's book, take a look at his examples and their explanations. If not here's a little something to get you started!
Don't forget to tag your shots flashofred-2015
You can also do get more info on black and white here:
http://www.boostyourphotography.com/2015/01/bw-bookclub.html
Happy Shooting!
I'm going to try this! Let's see if I can keep up with it for the whole month ;) Already bought and downloaded the book, but no time to read it yet, so just made some shots that I thought would look great in b&w, with all the fog outside ;)
@olivetreeann This is probably a question that I should know the answer to but I do not so here goes. I tagged my photo flashofred-2015. Now when I try to search to see others photos I can never find them. I have tried searching 'flashofred-2015' and "flashofred-2015". Could you tell me or perhaps someone else what I am doing wrong?
@morrisphotos I guess you've worked out by now that if you click on the tag on your own photo it will take you to them all. Otherwise when you search you need to make sure it's just like the tag (no caps), it was hard on my iPad because it keeps changing it to having a capital. Then just click on photos after searching.
@olivetreeann thanks, Ann. I'm not sure I'll do a whole month of B&W because I can only post one photo a day, but very much appreciate all the information you took time to write out for us on B&W photography. It is very informative and helpful.
@morrisphotos Hi Terri- I double checked for you and there are quite a few shots up there now. I'm thinking it could be one of two things. 1) You may have gone looking a little too early and no one had posted yet, or 2) When you do any kind of search several options become the "filter" for the search. You'll see them listed on the left side of the screen when the results come up- photos, users, discussions, blog. Click on photos and all the pictures with that tag should come up.
@alisonp Alison- if you tag me in the comment box of your photo I will be glad to give you feedback on composition and such. I am not a master of LR or PS, but I can help you with subject matter and pointers on what to look for in black and white shooting.
Had to tell you all how excited I am to see so many folks joining in on Flash of Red. Whether you're doing the whole month or a week, I think everyone benefits from changing up their shooting routine once in a while. And as I read Gibson's book, I'm also realizing that black and white also strengthens the artistry of your pictures. I may not get to comment on everyone's shots, but I do search the tag and take a glance at the wide variety of pictures and have fun seeing how people are approaching the challenge. So, once again, Thanks for joining in!!
Yay, so excited for this, this year! I've really been enjoying black & white photography, so I'm looking forward to reading the book and hopefully learning something along the way. Thanks for running it!
Yes true that could be done. I already have a valentines picture in mind so not sure how I would integrate that. Plenty of time to think of something though. @dmortega
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/24693/flash-of-red-february-2015
We're up and running folks! I'm looking forward to seeing your photos and please feel free to post your favorite shot of the week here!
My first try at a theme and I am so excited. Thank you for the lesson on B&W. This is for the full week, Sunday to Sunday? Stay warm!!!
Here are my thoughts about the first week too: http://www.boostyourphotography.com/2015/01/bw-bookclub.html
Had to tell you all how excited I am to see so many folks joining in on Flash of Red. Whether you're doing the whole month or a week, I think everyone benefits from changing up their shooting routine once in a while. And as I read Gibson's book, I'm also realizing that black and white also strengthens the artistry of your pictures. I may not get to comment on everyone's shots, but I do search the tag and take a glance at the wide variety of pictures and have fun seeing how people are approaching the challenge. So, once again, Thanks for joining in!!
@miley89 Thanks for joining in Miley. I am not super tech savvy, but you are an ace member which means you could upload any shot from your iPhone and process it in Picmonkey. Upload your shot, then in the column on the right hand side of your page, choose "edit in Picmonkey". Your shot will be redirected to Picmonkey's website where you can process it. There are several ways to achieve selective color. Here are some tutorials I put together last year using Picmonkey.
http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2014-01-16 http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2014-01-17 http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2014-01-18 http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2014-01-19
@dmortega Thanks for the tip Dorrena!