Different Moods

I thought I would share a picture I took recently that has been converted to black and white in Silver Efex Pro. There are four versions showing how you can chance the mood of your pictures to suit your taste.

Soft tone and low contrast help soften the look.

This one has film grain and lighting effect added from the bottom of the photo.

This is more dramatic with higher contrast and structure.

 

Just the lighting effect was added to the already soft photo.

Some of these effects make a subtle change to your photo white others are more dramatic. By using control points in Silver Efex you can highlight specific areas of your photograph. Changing the lighting, structure and contrast of the area you have chosen. Take a chance and experiment with your photos.
If you are interested in learning how to use Silver Efex Pro here is a lesson by Steve Huff. It will take you through the process and show you how changes occur to your photo.

Landscapes

I thought that I would share a coupe of landscape photos I took this week. They were processed in Adobe Lightroom 2.6 and Viveza 2.0. The first photo is of a trail taken on my daily walk. The lighting was cloudy with light rain which made for a interesting look to the picture.
The rest of the photos are of views looking back at the Santa Cruz mountains from trails that run behind the Portola Valley Ranch and Windy Hill. The conditions were similar to the trail photo.

Looking west towards Los Trancos Woods.

Looking north west towards the coastal mountains.

Windy Hill Pond.

I'm currently working on some more blended (color transitions to black and white) photos like this one of oak trees. The photo is comprised of several layers of color and black and white blended into one.

The black and white starts in the upper left corner and transitions back to full color at the bottom of the picture.  The effect is subtle and was indicative of overcast lighting conditions. 

Color Fade

Happy New Year and for this first blog of 2010 I'm sharing two pictures that I took on New Years Day. I processed them in Adobe Lightroom 2.6 and used Nik filters Silver Efex Pro and Viveza 2. The pictures were then blended together in Adobe Photo Shop Elements 8.0.
The effect in the first picture was a transition from color to black and white . I like the strong blue skies as they help accent the oak tree. The yellow double line is the demarcation from color to black and white.
The picture has a strong bias towards color and the light on the roadway gives the picture added depth.
Picture number two is just the opposite with black and white transitioning into color. The effect is some what like a cold wet or snowy scene. The colors are toned down and the effect is very interesting.

The light on the roadway is contrasting with the moisture and gives it a very real life appearance. The color on the hedges on the right side of the roadway help warm up the picture and accent the curves in the road.
I hope this gives you a few ideas on what interesting things you can do with your photographs.

Horse: color to black & white

I'm still having fun taking color photographs and converting them to black and white. The process shows what a different statement the picture makes. Today I'm featuring a photo I took the other day of a horse that we visit regularly.
In the color version you see the interesting coat color with its interesting tones and subtle color changes. The photo was processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0 Beta which is a free download from Adobe. You can try and use this version until the final version is released.

In the black and white version you are more drawn to the eye and the pattern of spots in his coat along with the soft black on his nose. The biggest difference so me is the strong contrast that make the spots in his coat jump out at you. Each of the photographs make their own statement and that is what has intrigued me with the process  The photo was transformed to black and white using Silver Efex Pro.
I have a suggestion of another blog that I read regularly Steve Huff is a professional photographer who not only takes wonderful pictures but does testing on the latest Leica, Nikon, Cannon cameras and accessories. Take a look and you will go back on a regular basis to see whats new and how to use it.

HDR Photography

High Dynamic Range is one of the new selections available in the latest firmware update. Today I'm sharing a few of the pictures I took using this selection available in the scene mode. You have three choices Natural, Art and Black and White. I chose the art and black and white. No other filters were used the photos where processed in Adobe Lighroom 2.6.
Unfortunately while using this mode you can only save the photographs in jpg and not raw. Still I think that you get some very usable pictures especially for use on the web. The photo to the right brought out all the strong colors and sharpness.

Horses and Pasture highlighted by strong colors.

Black and White HDR shows strong contrast.

Excellent color and tonality.

Here now is a short video showing some more of the pictures taken in HDR.

New Firmware

Leica has announced the availability of a new firmware update. This link will take you to the page that will allow you to download the software, pdf instructions and the pdf description of all the new and updated functions.
Highlights include 1 to 1 aspect ratio, white balance enhancements, exposure compensation, lens resume, red eye removal, message display and user name record. I have just updated my camera and will discuss these additions in a later blog.

Today I'm sharing some crops and macro shots that I took on Friday and Saturday. The first shot is a crop of a mushroom hidden among the garden plants.

The next two pictures are a close up of the center of a orchid. Scary looking and beautiful all at the same time. The color rendition shows the color changes that occur as the flower nears the end of its life cycle.

The black and white version of the photograph was done in a antique style that has a softness to it and does not show the ravages of fleeting life.

Just for fun I'm adding this high resolution photograph of a lone leaf with rain drops on it. Mouse click on the (+) in the upper right corner to see it full screen. If the image does not appear click the center button just to the left of the (+) button.

Holiday Season

Today we put up our tree and ornaments. This made think what type of pictures could I take and share with you.  Well as you can see I used a Christmas ornament as a model and then played with the image a little.

The color version has strong details and warm colors around the eyes and nose.

The black and white close up shows the same contrasts with some stronger details. Enjoy the holidays and have fun taking pictures.