noir # 1 ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3
noir # 2 ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3
noir # 3~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3
infrared-ish # 1 ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3
infrared-ish # 2 ~ (embiggenable) • µ4/3
BW PICTURE MAKING HAS NEVER BEEN MY "thing". Although, back in the analog days, I was known for making very high quality BW pictures / prints which featured detailed "inky" dark tones and delicatedly detailed highlight tones. That written, most of those pictures were made for commercial assignments as opposed to personal work.
When I entered the digital picture making world, by the very nature of the digital medium there was no way to make, directly in-camera, a BW image. And, since I do not "see" the world, then or now, in tones of black/white/gray, that transition to digital was the end of BW picture making for me.
CAVEAT: were I to return to the making of BW pictures / prints, I would return to the world of analog, aka: film-based picture making, picture making and print making. And, I must admit, the idea of hand-processing film and making prints in a darkroom, as opposed to sitting in front of a monitor, has a definite alure. END OF CAVEAT
In any event, the pictures in this entry are BW conversions made from original color image files. They were made over the past couple years in response to requests for submissions to juried BW photo exhibitions. The group displayed here has been pulled out of hiding for the same purpose.
FYI, when I make a color>BW conversion, I do so, not by simply converting to grayscale, but rather by using the IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > CHANNEL MIXER technique together with some subsequent Photoshop adjustments (usually local as opposed to global adjustments). This technique allows for incredible control over the conversion process, control far beyond anything possible in the BW analog world.
That "ultimate" control (both with bw and color), which I have totally embraced since my entrance in the digital domain, is what keeps me from returning to the good ol' analog days of yesteryear ... I have no doubt that I would be very frustrated by the limited amount of control, technique wise, I would have in the analog processing and print making world as opposed to what I have grown used to in the digital world.
FYI # 2, the noir pictures, converted from existing color pictures, in this entry were created for submission to a "noir" themed exhibition. The infrared-ish pictures were created during a brief fling-although, it emerges now and again-I had with making pictures, in-camera, which could be converted to a BW infrared-ish look.