gdanmitchell
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 Re: The Dramatic Opportunity Of B&W | |
I work in both black and white and in color, and I began photography doing only black and white. So it doesn\'t seem to me that much of anyone questions the dramatic or expressive potential of monochrome, nor the idea that it can be the best option for many interpretations of a wide range of subjects.
Within the realm of black and white, your technical interpretations seem quite classical, and I mean that in a positive sense. For me, this works especially well in the fourth photograph in your series, where the tonal range on the boat appeals to me a lot.
Since you asked for C&C, I\'ll give you some personal responses to the other three, too. I like the way you have handled the foreground meadow and stream quite a bit.
#1. Again, I like your \"classic\" sensibility in the photograph, and you it seems to hold a lot of dramatic potential. For me, the large mass of darker trees on the right overbalances the building that seems like it should be the main focus of the image. Perhaps as a result of including those trees, I also feel like there is more foreground at the bottom of the frame than I might like to see. If this were my photo I might experiment with a somewhat different crop that eliminated [more than half of the] largest of the dark trees and, as a result, eliminated some of the bottom foreground, with the result being a tighter crop emphasizing the building. I might also play around with dodging/burning analogs to see if I could get a bit more tonal differentiation between the room of the building and the mountains that are right behind it.
#2. Once again, I like the direction you go with your monochrome interpretation here. I feel like the whites of the clouds are a bit blown out, and if I were working the image I might try to get back some of the near-white tones to regain a bit of detail in the brightest part of the clouds. I also wonder if a wider aspect ration crop could work - one that eliminated the clouds above the break in the clouds - that might take out as much as 2/3 or so of the sky. For me, a version with less sky might strengthen the sense of the road leading off into distant and expansive space. (Here I confess that I might be just going for my own way of seeing, which often tends to eliminate or minimize sky - so, yes, it is a very subjective suggestion! ;-)
#3. Again, your high contrast interpretation mostly works quite well for me. This composition is also a tricky one, especially with that large tree both taller than the building and so close to the right margin - though I\'m not quite sure what to suggest other than what you did here. Eliminating the tree leaves a less interesting image, and I don\'t think that cropping to put it closer to the edge or cut through the tree works either - do I\'m left feeling that the composition is just a bit too complex and hard to sort out with the competition between the building, the mountains, the sky, and the tree for my attention.
Overall, again, I like what you are doing a great deal and there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in these images.
Take care,
Dan
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