For this exercise I chose a lakeside scene that features some interesting tree stumps right by the shoreline and a pine tree forest in the background. As my aim was to create more of a conceptual picture, I thought that black and white format would be particularly suited for it.
Below are my reflections on the effect that shooting in black and white had on the process.
Conception stage
The ideas that I wanted to explore through this picture were:
The cycle of life - the tree stumps and the pine forest; the dead and alive; the beginning and the end
Stillness and movement – I wanted to capture the water in the lake on slow exposure to show the movement or slight mist; the movement would be in contrast to the stillness of the tree stumps; there might be a little movement / haziness in the forest
I also thought that the tree stumps look almost alive, as some kind of alien creatures, and as if they are walking into the water or coming out of the water, also seem to be moving away from the forest. I wanted to capture this feeling and I thought that it would be possible to do that through a slow exposure to blur the water.
What effect shooting in black and white had on my choices at this stage: at the conception stage, it was very clear to me that the image would need to be presented as black and white to achieve the above. Discarding the colour information of this image would help to create a stronger focus on the ideas and concepts that I wanted to explore. In terms of the lighting conditions, shooting in black and white would also likely to be one of the easier options (it turned out to be true as the sky was a little washed out on the day).
Composition and exposure
I was mindful that the final image would be presented as black and white whilst preparing and shooting the frames. To capture the shadow and highlight details of the tree stumps and the movement of the water, I decided to use a tripod. I needed a strong composition and used triangles in framing the image. Triangles were also useful in implying / creating a stronger sense of movement. I paid particular attention to the shapes of the objects included in the shot (and which detail to include/ exclude) and how they interact in my image: I played around with positioning my camera differently to capture the best possible angle. I waited for the sun to go behind the clouds to reduce the contrast of the image and to capture a full range of shadows and highlights.
I’ve selected a slow ISO (50) to capture the movement of the water, maximise quality of the image and reduce noise. I bracketed to ensure I captured the necessary level of detail and got the exposure right.
Processing image
For this exercise I used Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to process my image. The main stages of my image processing workflow, described in Assignment 1, were used to complete this exercise.
Picture 2: Image after optimization
I first converted the image into black and white format using the Adobe Photoshop B&W and Shadows and Highlights tools. I then opened the image in Adobe Lightroom and made a number of follow up adjustments, including Crop, Curves, Exposure, Full light, Recovery, Adjustment Brush and Post-Crop. I was aware that some of my adjustments were interpretive in nature, i.e. I left the water of the lake underexposed as I wanted to emphasise the effect of the bright reflective surface of water.
I found this exercise really useful as it gave an opportunity to practice my skills in working with digital black and white images from a concept to the final image. This exercise reminded me of how important it is to consider the geometry, volume, shapes and tones whilst working on a black and white image, also to think about the way the different shapes interact within the image.
