Okay, I know what you're thinking. "The old man has finally lost it, doing a graffiti shot in black and white." Well, I'll make no claims regarding my sanity, but I'll definitely defend the b&w choice! I set out in the pouring rain at lunch time without any specific subject in mind. Rainy days are like that, primarily because I hate getting wet. I hate getting the camera wet, too. My thought was to head to Haines Park and see if there was anything interesting to shoot there in the rain. Along the way, I spotted this graffiti on the garage door of an out-of-business bicycle shop, ironically located right next to the East Bay Bike Path. I haven't done a graffiti shot in a while, so that interested me immediately. The texture of the wood and the mold on the sides made me think immediately of b&w, though. The snow in front added dimension to the shot, but even without the snow it would make a great b&w. The trim alone would serve as the white component, and there is sufficient contrast in the wood to make it interesting with a slightly tighter crop. So yes, I did opt for a black and white graffiti shot. I'll leave it to others to comment on my sanity, however.
Post processing started with a low contrast filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, followed by adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, and boost white. In PSE I adjusted levels, contrast, and added a sepia photo filter.
You're so right with the black and white, Ron! It really makes the textures stand out on the building and makes it pop :) Looking through your project really inspires me to do more black and white, because I really love what you do and how you do it!
