Grasses in black and white: Went for a walk today. My camera needed exercise. Our neighbor has been working very hard around his house, and I took some shots of these decorative...

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Went for a walk today. My camera needed exercise. Our neighbor has been working very hard around his house, and I took some shots of these decorative grasses. I cropped one photo down to reveal the detail, and converted it to black and white. How does it work?

Nikon D5000, 50 mm f/1.8D lens, shot at f/1.8, ISO 200, 1/8 sec.

EDIT: Reposted with slightly tighter cropping.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

By the looks of the background and some other embellishments about the main subjects, it would appear as if you have added some artistic effects to your photo. As a piece of fantasy, this works ...... to some extent. Call me a realist, but when I convert a color photo to monochrome, I try to keep some semblance of the color intonations the real plants exhibit. In that regard, I would have toned down the plants to a light grey, but not white. They appear unnatural to me, unless you explained that it was a dream sequence.

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

I usually agree with Bob; but I think the white is ok. It is not, however, as was pointed out strictly realistic.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Thanks for looking and commenting. I'll hold off a bit before I reply, I'd like to hear some others' opinions first. Somewhere down the line, I'll post the original color photo. Again, thanks for your comments.

John Lawrence

RMM wrote:

Went for a walk today. My camera needed exercise. Our neighbor has been working very hard around his house, and I took some shots of these decorative grasses. I cropped one photo down to reveal the detail, and converted it to black and white. How does it work?

Nikon D5000, 50 mm f/1.8D lens, shot at f/1.8, ISO 200, 1/8 sec.

EDIT: Reposted with slightly tighter cropping.

It works very well for me. Almost looks like infrared photography. Keep on shooting and have fun. Listen to everyone but, in the final analysis, the only person your photos need to please is you.

John

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Below is the color version I worked from. It is the same crop as the black-and-white, and exposure was bumped from the raw image, which was dark. I was shooting in aperture mode, and this shot was quite a bit darker than two others I took within seconds. One thing I haven't figured out is why my camera will do this - very different exposures within seconds, and without any change in settings. One reason I chose this for black and white treatment is the strong contrast between the grasses and everything else around it in that late afternoon light.

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

When I first looked at the B&W I did not realize how close to white the grass really is. Looking at your original, I would have to say that I do prefer the B&W treatment. The color grasses don't blend as well with their background. I think you made a good creative decision.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

ebrunner wrote:

When I first looked at the B&W I did not realize how close to white the grass really is. Looking at your original, I would have to say that I do prefer the B&W treatment. The color grasses don't blend as well with their background. I think you made a good creative decision.

Thanks. If I could have gotten closer, the lens would have blurred the background more, but then I'd have been traipsing across his lawn. I might take another whack at it to see if I can tone the grass down a bit. I knew there wasn't much contrast there, but the lighting was nice.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

EDIT: Oops. Double post.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

RMM, the color post is beautiful and whimsical, all at the same time. May I make an attempt at converting it to monochrome, just for comparison purposes?

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Bob Yankle wrote:

RMM, the color post is beautiful and whimsical, all at the same time. May I make an attempt at converting it to monochrome, just for comparison purposes?

Help yourself.

In the meantime, here's a revised version (crop isn't exactly the same). A couple of variations in the treatment.