Alabama Hills is B&W Gold!

Apr 27, 2011 | B&W Photography

I am asked ALL the time about B&W. I think Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 has a whole lot more digital shooters thinking B&W and that’s great! But just because we have an amazing finishing tool to go to B&W does every photo become a great B&W image. It all starts with the click.


As you saw, I shot a lot of color images. As you’re seeing, I also shot a lot of B&W images. Yes, when I pushed the button I was seeing B&W and that’s what a lot of photographers ask help with. The clouds in these photos come to life using the Structure sliders in Silver Efex Pro 2. It’s that knowledge that I use in part when arranging the elements in the viewfinder. I then look at the whites and the blacks, where they are in the frame, where they pull the eye and the story that is tolled during that travel. That’s where experience starts to come into play.


After thinking through that aspect of the photograph I think about contrast and brightness. That’s where the subject lives I think with structure giving the subject a place to live in the photograph. I came away with about 20 B&W images from the morning that I particular like, each because of some small subject that has a home in the photo. The bottom image is a great example of this. I like how Dave is in the scene, a microdot in size yet all the elements bring the eye to him. His solid black form stands you against the gray background. The one thing though that I feel all great B&W photos have in common is passion! B&W is the realm of romantics and without that key ingredient, while the technical might be present, the essence of the shades of B&W are not reaching out and touching the viewer.

Photos captured by D3x, 14-24AFS / 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital fim

It’s Starting to Feel Like Home

Feb 25, 2011 | Aviation, B&W Photography

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We’re down in Phoenix getting ready for our Air2Air workshop which is based out of the AZ Wing of the CAF. These great folks open up their doors and hearts and make us feel right at home. This is the home base for the B-17G Sentimental Journey and the B-25 Made in the Shade you see here.

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The AZ CAF does an amazing job putting people together with our history which I personally think is so important. I wasn’t able to photograph it, but today a WWII B-17 radioman who was shot down and was a POW was flying in Sentimental Journey. When if got back down he was nothing but smiles. That’s an aspect of aviation photography I truly enjoy. I’ll be blogging through out the weekend, give you something to do as the weather is looking to keep many in.

Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Road Warrior View

Feb 25, 2011 | B&W Photography

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Home for a few days, long enough to do some chores, some laundry, move snow, backed up images from the last two weeks onto the network drives, pat the dogs on the head, pack and back out the door we went. It’s that time of year again when I look in the mirror I see the road warrior view.

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The Sierra is a magical place, one I’ve written about and shared in my images many times, I never get tired of them. They always seem to send us off and welcome us back without any conditions, just that we do comeback. We skirted out this time just as another big storm was coming in. You can see its beauty piled up over Mono Lake hiding the fact the fury that would be unleashed as the sun set.

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We continued up the road without a hitch, just a gorgeous view as the storm piled in over the crest. We’re heading north past Carson City and just heading into Washoe Valley when the weather closed in. The winds were such the highway was closed to all high profile vehicles, it was blowing snow across the highway and in some places making is an icy mess. The normal 70mph limit was more then most felt comfortable with, 50mph seemed more cautious with the conditions. We were just about to get through the mess when in the southbound lane we saw a new, white, Ford F250 just as it started to fish and then the wind gust grabbed its empty bed, flipped it a couple of times over and over and dump it into the center island. There was no way or place we could stop but we were instantly on the phone reporting it. Moments later the ambulance passed us heading south. The rest of the details I’ll leave out but it’s not good. Life is so precious and yet it seems we get stuck in the fast lane and miss that fact until we get hit in the side of the head. Waiting until you loose something to realize that is too late. That too is sometimes the road warrior view.

Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

YA Wk2 D2-2

Feb 16, 2011 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography

The weather went from bad to horrible so we headed up to Upper Geyser Basin to see what was happening. What do I mean the weather went to crap? Look at the skies….BLUE! I hate bald skies but when you want to photograph steam, they do have some benefit to your photography.

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Since it was up to 39 degrees, it was too warm for anything other then geysers. This is Castle Geyser and other then darkening the sky in ACR with the blue slider, it’s straight from the camera.

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I have to be honest, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen and photographed Old Faithful so to make a new shot is a challenge. The one hard thing about the photo is the fact you just don’t know what the old girl will do until it blows. How high, the direction of the steam are highly variable. So what I decided to do was stand where I had the best foreground, go B&W in post and click. I was pretty happy with the eruption as the wind took the steam back and to the right leaving the actual eruption up front and white. Perfect for a B&W image.

Photo captured by D3x, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

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