Did February fly by for you as quickly as it did for me? By now you should feel a little more familiar with black and white photography and the components that make up a good black and white shot. You may find that this challenge has also improved your pictures over all. I know it always does for me.
For the final three days of Flash of Red we'll return to what we started with- light. Light is foundational to all photography. So for the last days of our month of black and white, take special note of your lighting conditions (with a creative option for the 28th instead if you like). At the beginning of the month we looked for extreme lighting, but if possible, look for muted or low lighting.
An iconic muted light shot is the lone tree emerging from a thick fog, or a road which disappears into it. There are three levels of low light. 1) visible: in daylight when you happen to be in shadowed areas behind buildings, under bridges or large trees. 2) low light: after sunset when you can tell that it is getting dark or when you are indoors. 3) dark: at night when you can only see the brightest objects (like street lights).
Soft lighting conditions can also be achieved by using a filter/diffuser on your lens or bouncing your light source away from the camera. Rainy days are great for muted lighting conditions so hopefully the weather will cooperate with you if you're searching for that kind of shot.
Here are some additional articles to read on low-light and shooting in fog and mist:
Optional FUN on February 28th-
In the past many Flash of Red participants have posted a calendar shot of their month but this year it might be fun to present some of your favorite shots of the month in a creative way- a photo globe! You may have seen them appearing around 365 over the past month as the became quite popular when introduced here.
Here's how it works.
Go to http://funny.pho.to/
Scroll down through the processing options until you see Multi Photo Frames (select)
Under the options which pop up, choose "globe"
You will see a row of boxes to post selected pictures in- choose the source you will be getting your pictures from- "from computer", "URL" or "fb". Load in your selected pictures. I think you can choose up to 10 photos, but mine have always looked best when I've used 6 to 8. The order you upload them does effect where the shots get placed on the globe but I'm not sure in what way. Once all your photos are in, select "process" on the right side of the screen.
When the globe appears on your computer screen, select "save and share", then "save to computer" when the globe appears again, then "save picture as" when the picture is downloaded.
Don't forget to put your flash of red into the globe- it makes for a really nice flash of color amongst all that black and white! Also be sure to post your globe or calendar shot here.
I've enjoyed our 6th Flash of Red February. I hope you did too. And my heartfelt thanks to anyone who bought my book to help them along this month. I was so thrilled to see those sales listed on my book page! Are you ready for some color now? You may want to join in on this in March: http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/31137/rainbow-challenge-2018
But don't forget Black and White! Return to it on a regular basis to keep your skills active and your creative juices flowing. It's been a pleasure being your host for this month!
Did you know that there are almost 1500 photos tagged with flashofred2018? Fabulous participation!! Hats off to you for spearheading this fab theme 🙂🙂🙂
thanks so much ann for your dedication to this challenge. i have so enjoyed reading your carefully collected links, and taking the time to really try to improve my b&w photography :)
Thanks for organising this Ann. I've had fun with it. I just realised that I forgot to tag m photos with flashofred2018, so you can add another 28 to the tally :)
I have really enjoyed your Flash of Red this year. thank you so much for all the organizing you have done to make this happen. Really well done and much appreciated!
Thank you Sooooo much everyone. I love doing flash of red so I think I get more out of it than all of you! It's really an aspect of photography that I am particularly drawn to- so thanks for joining in and so glad it's been a benefit to you as well.
My apologies for being a day late in tagging you! I could barely keep my eyes open when posting the discussion thread last night. You're on your last 3 days! Have fun!!
Thank you soooooo much Ann. I really enjoyed this month and have also learned a great deal. Your comments have been constructive and helpful and I am very grateful to you for sparing the time.
This challenge is so much fun Ann. Thank you so much for putting in the time and effort to lead it. Your leadership is exemplary and very much appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you Annie, Nicole, and Marnie! I not only appreciate your taking part in the challenge, but your kind words towards me. I do enjoy this challenge- both setting it up and participating in it too!
@olivetreeann
I cannot believe it is the end of Feb already. As in past years, I have loved doing b&w Feb and as so many others have said, a massive thank you Ann for keeping us on track and posting informative articles to extend our learning. I look forward to being here in year 7!
Thanks so much for taking time and effort to spearhead this fun project. I especially appreciate your effort in putting those informational links in, too.
I have just created a globe but when I chose "save and share" it did not give me the option to "save to computer". I clicked "download" but don't know where it went? I then saved it to Facebook and it did that ok. Oh well I will do something else for the last day of the flash of red.
I did the globe and then uploaded to pic collage to play more. It only lets you use ten shots
@pamknowler I think when it saves it automatically goes in my photos in my iPad or computer, so it is just the most recent among the pictures I have taken. When I first did one I ended up with three because I didn’t think it was saving.
@olivetreeann thank you Ann for putting this together and keeping me motivated with all your links and ideas. It's been such an interesting month, I've really enjoyed it, can't believe it's nearly over!
@pamknowler Hmmmm.... not sure why it's not working. Tell you what- send me six of your black and white files and I'll make one for you since it does work for me. Olivetreeann@mail.com Don't worry it's very quick to make and I'll send it back to you, plus post it on the final thread (to be posted later tonight EST) for you when I'm done.
@dibzgreasley Thanks Debs! It did go by quickly! I felt more on top of it this year not having to read a book and review it each week. I'm glad the articles did the job. Looking forward to your wonderful black and whites in year #7!
@pandorasecho Nicely done Dixie! Loved that heart and the story that goes with it.
@inthecloud5 Thank you Christine! I'm glad you enjoyed the month as I really enjoy putting it together.
Thanks to all of you- your comments and enthusiasm always make me smile!
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Thank you Sooooo much everyone. I love doing flash of red so I think I get more out of it than all of you! It's really an aspect of photography that I am particularly drawn to- so thanks for joining in and so glad it's been a benefit to you as well.
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My apologies for being a day late in tagging you! I could barely keep my eyes open when posting the discussion thread last night. You're on your last 3 days! Have fun!!
Thank you Joyce, Pam and Dixie! I am so appreciative of everyone's support and enthusiasm for FOR. What a great community!
@pamknowler Thank you so much Pam! I can't tell you how much that means to me! I'm glad it was helpful to you. I really enjoyed writing it!
Thank you Annie, Nicole, and Marnie! I not only appreciate your taking part in the challenge, but your kind words towards me. I do enjoy this challenge- both setting it up and participating in it too!
I cannot believe it is the end of Feb already. As in past years, I have loved doing b&w Feb and as so many others have said, a massive thank you Ann for keeping us on track and posting informative articles to extend our learning. I look forward to being here in year 7!
@pamknowler I think when it saves it automatically goes in my photos in my iPad or computer, so it is just the most recent among the pictures I have taken. When I first did one I ended up with three because I didn’t think it was saving.
@dibzgreasley Thanks Debs! It did go by quickly! I felt more on top of it this year not having to read a book and review it each week. I'm glad the articles did the job. Looking forward to your wonderful black and whites in year #7!
@pandorasecho Nicely done Dixie! Loved that heart and the story that goes with it.
@inthecloud5 Thank you Christine! I'm glad you enjoyed the month as I really enjoy putting it together.
Thanks to all of you- your comments and enthusiasm always make me smile!