Category: Monochrome Photography

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Books Cuba Monochrome Photography Photographers Photography Photography - Black & White

Book Recommendation: Raúl Cañibano: PHotoBolsillo

Last January, I headed to Havana, Cuba with my photo buddy Doug Kaye for a wonderful week of photography organized by Kip Brundage of Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.

Raúl CañibanoOne of the best things about this week was that we had Cuban photographers out with us as we walked the neighborhoods in Havana. They really helped us see – and opened our eyes to the beautiful people and places in Havana.

One of the Cuban photographers we really benefited from working with was Raúl Cañibano. It was such a treat to be out in the neighborhoods with him – and watch him as he captured images along with us. Raúl works very quickly – with minimal gear. He’s got a great gift for seeing an image in the moment – and capturing it quickly.

While we were out working with him in Havana, he had a small portfolio book of his photography that he shared with us. It’s a beautiful small size – with some amazing black and white photography both in Havana and out in the countryside in Cuba. We wanted to buy a copy of this book – but he couldn’t sell it to us.

Raúl’s book recently become available for ordering on Amazon.com – and it’s a real delight. I keep it in my home office alongside my desk – for inspiration! Raúl’s eye and capture is a real treat for the eye! If you enjoy great black and white photography of real people, you’ll really enjoy Raúl’s small book!

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Black and White China Monochrome Photography Nik Software Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

Armored Kneeling Archer – China’s Terracotta Warriors

Armored Kneeling Archer - San Francisco - 2013

Here’s another image from the exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors now underway at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum.

This image required a bit more work. One of the challenges of shooting images of the warriors as they’re displayed is the combination of lighting and reflections – which bring extra “stuff” into the images.

Plus, when we were there, it was really crowded inside the darkened exhibition gallery. Lots of folks moving around – and bumping into each other – a challenging photographic venue for sure!

But the gallery that the Asian Art Museum created for the warriors is really is superb in terms of how the terracotta warriors are placed and, in particular, how they’re lit.

So, to deal with the issues in the image, I did a quick selection in Photoshop to isolate the warrior from extraneous background elements. I then faded those elements into the background while adding some contrast to the warrior.

Then we made a trip into Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 to do two steps: bring out more detail and add a subtle bit of glamour glow.

Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 was used for the conversion to monochrome – adding a bit of structure to the midtones and highlights while removing structure from the shadows. A bit of soft contrast adjustment helped with lighting.

A quick pass with Doug Kaye’s Warm Black action helped tone the image just ever so slightly.

For the final sharpening step, I used the Sharpen 2013 action included in the latest version of Dan Margulis’ Picture Postcard Workflow panel in Photoshop.

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Black and White China Monochrome Photography Nik Software Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

China’s Terracotta Warriors

Driver - San Francisco - 2013

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum is currently featuring a beautiful exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors.

Here’s an image from a recent visit – of a horse carriage driver. He’s out in the lobby – before you get into one of the three galleries with the other warriors and related sculptures.

This image was shot handheld with my Nikon D600 and post-processed in Photoshop CS6 along with Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2.

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Black and White Maker Faire Monochrome Photography Nik Software Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II

A Look Back at Maker Faire SF 2011

Maker - Maker Faire - 2011

A few days ago, I had a request from one of the exhibitors at Maker Faire SF 2011 for copies of the images I shot of her beautifully colored yarns.

While pulling out those images for her, I began to explore the rest of my images from that day – and came across this image of a maker – staring intently. The image seemed like a great candidate for a monochrome conversion – which I did using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 along with some other Photoshop CS6 tricks and a quick pass of high pass sharpening.

I just love his look and the “attitude” in this image! Hope you do too – please share your comments below!

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Black and White Lightroom Monochrome Photography Nik Software Parades Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

Goodfellas Enjoying the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in San Francisco

Goodfellas - San Francisco - 2013

For the first time, I attended the San Francisco Saint Patrick’s Day Parade a few weeks ago. The event is a great time – lots of wonderful street photography opportunities!

This image is of the firefighters’ section of the parade – one of the largest units. I enjoyed seeing these guys have a great time driving their old time fire engine, smoking a couple of cigars and enjoying the crowd!

The image was shot with a Nikon D600 and post-processed in Lightroom and Photoshop using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 plus some other tricks.

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Black and White Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600

Standing Tall at Drake’s Beach

Shooter #2 - Drake's Beach - 2013

This is the second version of this image of a photographer standing on a rock above Drake’s Beach that I’ve processed. The first was in color – and this version was processed as a monochrome. In addition, a cloudy texture was added to add some drama to the skies – and a final tweak to change the blacks to warm black.

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Black and White Monochrome Photography Nik Software Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600

The Kiterunner on the Beach at Point Reyes

Kiterunner - Drake's Beach - 2013

Here’s a shot from early January 2013 – at Drake’s Beach at Point Reyes. Shot with my Nikon D600, I post-processed it in Photoshop with Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2. I love the contrast in this shot – and how the kiterunner is heading into the light off to the right.

Hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think by adding a comment below!

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Black and White Monochrome Photography Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600

Lone Tree at Parker Ranch

20130329-094830.jpg

On the road from Hawi to Waimea on the Big Island of Hawaii is this field with a lone tree.

While driving past, I hit the brakes and hopped out to capture this image with my Nikon D600. It’s cropped a bit on the bottom to remove a barbed wire fence.

The late March morning sky was beautiful. I opted for this version in black and white – warm black actually.

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Black and White Hawaii Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon PowerShot S95 Photoshop

More Monochrome from the Beach in Hawaii

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Here’s another monochrome from the beach on the Big Island of Hawaii.

This image was shot using my tiny Canon PowerShot S100 and tweaked initially in Lightroom for straightening and then into Photoshop for conversion to monochrome using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2.

It was finished with some dodging and burning – along with a couple of Curves adjustment layers to augment the tonality of the image. A final pass of “hiraloam” sharpening completed the processing.

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Black and White Hawaii iPhone 5 Monochrome Photography Nik Software Photography Photography - Black & White

Which Way Is Up? – An iPhone 5 Experiment in Black and White

Which Way Is Up? - Hawaii - 2013

An experiment in black and white – image from a portion of a carving hanging on a wall in a Hawaii hotel – with some very special sunlight streaming in from the left side.

Shot with my iPhone 5 and post-processed using Nik’s Snapseed on my iPhone.