The magic of monochrome first captured my imagination when I was blogging back in 2014. I learned a lot from enjoying the black and white photography of other bloggers and Cee’s Photo Tips and Tricks on black and white photography were really useful too.
Occasionally I’ve tried my hand at the Black & White Challenge to see if I could craft my own black and white creations. This was quite a challenge for me, but also it was fun to learn more, especially about post-processing, which is how I create my black and white images. I’ve added one of my earlier B&W Challenge entries as my header image for this post.
Having recently returned to my blogging, I thought I might revisit black and white photos and create an entry for this week’s challenge. By chance, this week’s theme is an open theme, so that gave me a world of potential subject matter! I think of creating black and white images as ‘taking a different angle’ on photography so I’ve chosen that as the theme for my challenge entry.
This woodland mushroom will look familiar to some recent visitors to my blog – I featured my son’s original colour photo in my Fun Foto Challenge entry last week. Thinking about ‘A Different Angle’ brought me straight to this image, as I love the low-level angle of the shot. I decided to re-process it into a black and white image. This gave me the opportunity to re-hone my post-processing skills as I thought about how to best draw out the tones and textures under the mushroom.
Lighthouses always make me think of the power of the sea. They are simultaneously synonymous with danger and safety. The colour version of this image also appears in a previous Fun Foto Challenge post on the theme of Perspective (unusual angles), where you can also see the steepness of the steps inside that allow visitors to climb up to the top.
In this shot, I loved the dramatic zig-zag of light that cuts through the dark clouds, with the light shafts streaming earthwards at the distant end, like a comet’s tail. Clouds fascinate me. I can watch them for ages as they constantly shape-shift, changing from sea foam to floppy-eared dogs chasing the wind. We see some wonderful cloudscapes in our valley.
Do take a look at what others have chosen for Cee’s Black and White Challenge this week.
J Peggy Taylor
Oak Trees Studio 
Beautiful photos and I like to read what you write about the photos:)
Thank you, Lakshmi – I like to give a little bit of commentary on my photos – glad you enjoy it 🙂
Achromatic scheme creates an impact of its own. How different the mushroom looks! The lighthouse looks stunning in black and white. Even in the third photo, the light gets the focus. I think, it is the achromatic effect, that takes them to a different level!
Tc, keep smiling 🙂
Thank you, Sindhu 🙂 I find looking only at black and white makes me see different things in an image. It really is a fascinating and fun journey, learning about processing images in black and white.
I am partial to your lighthouse photos. Your mushroom is great in black and white too. 😀
Thank you Cee 🙂 I was drawn back to the lighthouse for this challenge – it was sending me subliminal messages I think! That mushroom seems to be in my zone just lately – starting at ground level and looking up 🙂
These are stunning Peggy. There is something timeless about black and white in my opinion, something richer and more reflective. I love the clouds one in particular as I too love watching the ever changing cloudscape and spotting all manner of things and people up above, as well as being reminded of the impermanence of everything because those clouds never last/hold together long. Hugs, Harula xxx
Thank you, Harula, you are very kind 🙂 I do agree about the timelessness of black and white. Cloud-watching is such a soothing pastime. Especially on sunny days, it is wonderful to mindfully drift along with them as they take their transient journey. Best Wishes, Peggy 🙂