THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY

BLACK AND WHITE INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY

Infrared photographs have a very special look and feel. By rendering skies black, foliage and stone white, these images possess strong contrast, pronounced grain and a distinct dreamy appearance that puts them in a category of their own.

Back in the day we used the legendary Kodak High-Speed Infrared Film / HIE which is now discontinued. It was notoriously fussy to work with (especially while on the road) and it was difficult to lay one's hands on a steady supply. The results, below, made it all worthwhile.

This tradition of infrared photography is now carried on with modified DSLR cameras.

all photos ©Michael G. O'Brien 2001

Salvador da Bahia and Olinda, Brazil 

http://tinyurl.com/salvador4321

The Elevado Lacerdo
View of the Bay of All Saints
Salvador da Bahia, Brasil
©Michael G. O'Brien 2001

Going To Work On The First Morning After Carnaval
Pelourinho District, Salvador da Bahia, Brasil
©Michael G. O'Brien 2001

Looking Down Into The Pelourinho
Salvador da Bahia, Brasil
©Michael G. O'Brien

THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: HOW TO SEE THE DRAMATIC POTENTIAL IN A SCENE

From the LAKESHORE SERIES
photo ©Michael O'Brien Aug 2015

Once you are fluent in the use of your camera and software it allows you to interpret scenes as intended. To be fluent with a camera means having command of the exposure, and other relevant, controls so that you're able to 'see' the potential in a scene then set up quickly for an exposure. Understanding the DRAMATIC POTENTIAL in a scene helps lead us to the photograph we want to create.
This fluency comes from regular practice, experience and experimentation.

THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: HOW TO READ PHOTOGRAPHS

UNTITLED, STANLEY PARK, VANCOUVER, B.C.

photo by Michael O'Brien

When we look at a color image, the PSYCHOLOGY OF COLOUR plays a big role in our READING of that photo i.e. our personal, cultural and unconscious associations to the colours in the palette of that photograph. Since these associations to colour are absent in B&W pictures such as this one: we are free to take a much different reading of the photograph. For instance, for me, the green leaves would have worked well against the clear blue sky in colour, but what would the image be saying? In B&W the mass and weight of this tree come to the forefront, so does it's prolific output of leaves. I can almost hear this tree breath. None of this comes through in the colour version.

THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: GEOMETRY AND PATTERNS IN NATURE

From the series 'Beneath The Surface'

©MICHAEL O'BRIEN

click here to see series

Playing with GEOMETRY and PATTERNS is fun with black and white photography. It exercises the creative muscles while helping us see the shapes and patterns underlying all forms. Additionally, this strengthens our compositions of any subject matter, even when we make color photographs.

THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: THE ART OF B&W CONVERSIONS IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Before B-W conversion
from the EARTH WATER SKY series
©Michael O'Brien
click here to see the series

After B-W conversion
from the EARTH WATER SKY series
©Michael O'Brien
click here to see the series

CONVERTING a color RAW file into a black and white file is much like an alchemical process. It can be as laborious or simple as you want it to be. Countless books have been written on the subject yet practicing with a few simple tools will suffice to produce strong B&W photographs. I will be covering this approach in my workshop.

At the moment, my preferred software for CONVERSIONS is Lightroom, Photoshop, and Silver Efex. I can spend anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours developing an image in the POST PROCESSING stage; it depends on the image and what needs to be done to reach my final vision for that image.
This can be an important step in the CREATIVE PROCESS and helps us develop our ability to see the potential that resides in a scene and in a RAW file made of that scene.
 Below is an example of what Silver Efex can do with an image; left is the unprocessed RAW file in color - right is the finished image after processing in Silver Efex. We'll be teaching these techniques in our upcoming October workshop - 'Black and White Digital Photography' - details to come.

THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE is rendered well in black and white. The way this medium emphasizes tone, shape and texture makes it a perfect way to photograph structures and their details.

NEW YORK CITY

all photos ©Michael O'Brien 2015

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NYC
©Michael O'Brien 2015

GENERAL GRANT MEMORIAL, NYC
©Michael O'Brien 2015

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, NYC
©Michael O'Brien 2015

57th and LEX, NYC
©Michael O'Brien 2015

DETAIL FROM THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, NYC
©Michael O'Brien 2015

THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: USING LAYERS AND PERSPECTIVE TO CREATE DEPTH IN PHOTOGRAPHS

Tewet Tarn and Blencathra, English Lake District
photo by: Keith Greenough
http://www.keithgreenoughphotography.co.uk

LAYERS can lead us into a picture and help us navigate all the different elements from which a photograph is made. For instance, sometimes a landscape doesn't have an obvious centre of interest (the thing we are told every photograph needs). LAYERING within the frame can act as the glue that holds together and helps convey what we see and feel while standing in front on a awesome scene.
Often this effect is achieved by having the focus recede so that foreground elements are in sharp focus and then taper off the further we go into the scene. This can be done by using CONTROLLED DEPTH OF FIELD and choosing our place of prime focus carefully.

THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: THE ART OF THE PORTRAIT - YOSUF KARSH

The respected Canadian portrait artist JOUSUF KARSH became synonymous with masterful and probing black and white portraits of exquisite technical quality. Working with a large format 8"x10" camera he photographed the leading figures of the day. As a young man he briefly worked at stage lighting in theatre and we can see this in many of his portraits. He was known for peeling back the layers to expose (and photograph) the essence of a person. Black and white's ability to pare away distractions was perfect for his mission. 

Born in Armenia, he was heard to say that he emigrated to Canada with 'nothing but his good manners.' They served him well.

Karsh felt that: “Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can. The revelation, if it comes at all, will come in a small fraction of a second with an unconscious gesture, a gleam of the eye, a brief lifting of the mask that all humans wear to conceal their innermost selves from the world.”

Francois Mauriac
photo by JOUSUF KARSH
http://www.karsh.org/

Francois Mauriac
photo by JOUSUF KARSH
http://www.karsh.org/

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY: A SERIES OF 30 POSTS BASED ON MY THOUGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS

'El ENSUENO'
BY MANUEL ALVAREZ BRAVO

For the next 30 days I'll post content that touches on the subject of black and white (B&W) photography, a life long love of mine.These 30 posts will be followed by a B&W workshop that I'll lead in Toronto. Details to come!

Thirty years ago it was seeing this photo by Manuel Alvarez Bravo that ignited my passion for photography. Before that I'd never seen images with such depth, passion and an almost supernatural presence. 

This entry post will stay at the top of my page acting as an intro over the next 30 days.

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES: WHAT IS A 'LOW KEY' IMAGE?

MEDITATION
photo by Michael O'Brien

LOW KEY treatment of a photograph involves far more than ratcheting back the exposure in camera or in Photoshop. It involves 'seeing' the scene in a darker rendering than how it normally looks and then making the decision to go with that because it will fulfill your vision of the scene. There is something primordial and timeless about people paddling on the open water at dawn and I saw the chance to express that in this image.