Attempt at B&W

My wife has requested some black and white photos to print and frame around the house, so being the good hubby that I am, I'm trying my hand at taking some 'artistic' photos for her (mainly I just take pics of the family).

These photos are from our neighborhood and local park. Be honest, let me know what does and does not work so I can apply it to future shots.

they've got a snapshot feel to them. trees are fairly uninteresting. unless that's what she wants. the first one could've been better if it had less DoF. when i'm taking photos outside, i literally lay down on the ground/grass/dirt and take pictures like that. people must think i'm crazy, but those kinds of photos are what seperates snapshots from well thought out and composed photos.

you can take a look at my flickr, i do a lot of outdoor photography.

I kind of agree with the first poster. These images just feel like snapshots and not composed, intentional shots. . . Maybe spend some time in the landscape forum.

I definitely prefer the second one, the shadows give it some really nice character - it could be abit sharper though.

In the first picture, it seems abit over-exposed. The path also looks abit unnatural and sort of drawn on, there seems no texture to it.

I think a bit of darkening helps break it up abit (not sure how to get my attachment the same size as yours so hope the change is noticeable).

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I don't think they're half bad - the first one could use a more definite subject. If you had kids, or dogs, or the wife or something on the path - that would help. Maybe someone riding a bike down the path with some motion blur. Anyway, it's a decent concept, just needs some fleshing out.

The second one is kind of nice - I'd like it more grainy or a little less sharp.

I think both would benefit from changing the level you are photographing at - being eye level adds to the 'boringness'

Maybe you could apply a filter or two to give your images a more interesting, abstract look. That could elevate what might be considered a 'snapshot' to more of an artistic creation.

Something that helps me is to try to give my images a title, even if it's just in my head. This helps me describe and clarify what the main focus of my image is and what I want to convey. If I can't come up with a reasonable title, the image probably won't make sense to someone else either.

You might call this one "The path less traveled" for example.

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In my opinion, B&W photography is all about C&C - composition and contrast. It is a good exercise to work in b&w because it will train your eye to see contrast, patterns, etc.

Pay attention to composing within the camera and look for the contrasts. For example, my eye is drawn to the dark, gnarly tree in #1. Try to go back and recompose with fewer distractions. (See example)

Shadows can be fun as abstracts. Again, I just cropped #2, but you want to try to find it in your viewfinder rather than crop later.

In post, use the curves tool to darken the darks and lighten the lights - it gives you a nice control over the contrast.

Devin

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#1: Devinwk's got a great insight there and a super alternative crop, but if you want to make the most of your original vision of this, then I've a few thoughts. The upper parts of the foreground are important - the branches separating out from the trunk - while the upper background is completely featureless, and with the density of twigs diminishing towards the top edge it's not very tight. It's also unfortunate that the white grassy area in the background - which forms a dominant horizontal - is below the Rule of Thirds placement, and that the base of the foreground tree a third in from the right is cropped through (grounding is so important). You can address all these simultaneously by shooting for a touch more elevated position with the camera angled a little more downwards. This would also provide a less side-on view of the path, emphasising it further. The surface of the path does look strangely monotonous and texture-less... not sure what's up with that. I suspect that's may have been part of canon2311's motivation in darkening it, and certainly navydoc's filter works well to alleviate the harshness of such a smooth, bright, dominant element. More in line with Devinwk's ideas, you might try a portrait orientation.

#2's got good lighting and tonality. The small bush across the road's one of the most interesting aspects of the shot, so I've mixed feelings about Devinwk's crop there, though it's dramatic. I'd say this shot's quite successful in a very low key way. I'd PP out the fire hydrant - just doesn't look good to have a foreground element overlapping a background one, confusing the outlines.

Cheers,
Tony

Wow! Great feedback and suggestions, thank you all very much, that is exactly what I was hoping for. I'm going to have to read this through a couple times to absorb it all then try to put it into practice.

I sort of liked what you did, they have a nice abstracty feeling, esp. the second one with the street sign shadow. The first one I'd probably get rid of the tree on the left hand side. I really like your B&W treatment & fact you're not afraid to have some deep blacks in there.

I have 10 or so black-and-white prints nicely framed and hanging up at home. The images that people seem to notice most are the ones with a prominent shape of some kind -- that is, the ones that are more noticeable from a distance. Hope this helps.