Have you ever seen a blue streak from where someone cursed - a lot? I gave up and finally settled on this image. What a PITA! If I got all the details in the shells - I lost all the detail in the background. There's got to be a balance between the two, but I couldn't get there today.
Shot in black and white in natural light. Doing my own black and white theme for the month of April. Going back to class so to speak... My goal for this month is NOT to do "product" photography - I do NOT want my subject to look like it's floating in air on a washed out background. My goal is to maintain some detail in the background and still keep a good focus on my subject. It's much harder to do than I remembered!
The human eye can see about 30 shades of gray between black and white - forget about the infamous book, and an average RGB computer screen can detect 256 shades of gray which we can't see anyway. How many shades are there really? Only God knows!
Finding six white subjects was a chore for me! Off white or cream I have, but very little pure white subjects around the house. My black background is a shower curtain. I found that shower curtains make great backgrounds and they're real cheap! Again with the old jewelry. This is a leftover shell necklace from the 80s. White on black seems to be the toughest one yet to maintain detail in both subject and background.
What the eye perceives as black or white in a black and white image is a task - light, f-stop, ISO, focal length, etc. all play a role in the nearest to perfect image you can capture. Keeping detail in your subject and background along with the tones the eye perceives as black and/or white is NOT easy.
This is turning out to be an interesting re-learning experience. It really was an assignment for John Frair's class so many decades ago. God bless him! I would love a do-over in his class if he was still around.
1st week - only shades of gray in natural light - done
2nd week - black on white in natural light - done
3rd week - black on black in natural light - done
4th week - white on black in natural light
5th week - white on white in natural light
@30pics4jackiesdiamond That's exactly what's happening. LOL! PITA = pain in the ass. Ha ha! Thanks, Jackie. Really appreciate your support. Hard to imagine anyone learning from me here. I figure everyone else has far surpassed what I can do - you included. =)
@30pics4jackiesdiamond I'm inspired by everyone here. =) This little re-learning experience is way outside of my comfort zone. I don't like setting up shots! LOL! I just want to go out and shoot. But I love black and white. Remembering my old days in class and my late professor - John Frair, I'm determined to improve. His spirit is urging me on. =)
All of these images and your narratives are so interesting (I couldn't attempt any of them, with my little point/shoot) And I especially enjoyed this one - the beginning made me laugh! Thanks.
@linnypinny Thank you, Lin! Glad you got a laugh out of it. Always makes my day. You might be surprised what you can do if you try. I'm using a cheap little Kodak digital I got back around 2010 for about $150. I've pushed it to the max! My images won't win any awards, but most aren't half bad. =)
What's PITA??
Keep going Mags!! It's all learning and experience and I'm enjoying learning from your project
I'm a point and clicker at heart!!
@milaniet Thank you, Milanie!
@kjarn LOL!
@wakelys Thank you, Susan! =)