Gauze Curtain, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
Photographing this model through a gauze curtain conceals—and at the same time gently reveals. Lit by one strobe to the left and above the model.
Waiting, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
My Mom came back from giving a workshop in Guatemala. Late last night found me at SFO to pick her up.
Waiting. The plane was late. Next, the wait for luggage. Not Godot, luggage.
I was bored so I snapped this distorted photo of the carousel using my Lensbaby Composer with the fisheye optic, at 1/15 of second using the f/5.6 aperture ring and ISO 100, hand held. Waiting for luggage, or Godot—whichever comes first—with a fisheye lens.
Courtyard, photo by Harold Davis.
For a preview of my upcoming Creative Black & White: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques check out Converting to Black & White, the most recent column in my Creativity in the Photoshop Darkroom series on Photo.net.
About this image: This is an HDR capture, created using combined exposures in Photomatix, and converted to monochromatic. There were six original exposures at 12mm, shutter speeds from 1/250 of a second to 1/25 of a second, each exposure at f/14 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.
My idea with this black and white HDR image of an old courtyard in Havana, Cuba was to challenge the usual assumptions about framing an architectural photo. When you realize that the camera was positioned at the bottom of a courtyard, it’s easy to see you are looking up at the sky. However, at a glance the nearly square patch of sky and cloud could also be a framed work of art on the wall.
As I’ve noted, converting your Photomatix HDR to black and white means never having to apologize again for garish colors.
Nautilus Solarization, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
This a digital solarization of my black and white Nautilus shell image. The technique is explained in my new book Creative Black & White (to be published later this spring, but now available for pre-order).
Other monochromatic solarizations: Solarized Hellebore; Web Solarization; Kimi Solarization.
Contemplation, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
This is a portrait of Christianna, a professional model. I processed this image to bring out the contrast between her white skin and her very dark hair hanging down.
Normally, I like to see the eyes of my subjects—but this one works for me with Christianna looking down instead of at the camera.
Fabric of Stone, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
I think this mid-key photo looks more like a textile or fabric than the reality it depicts: the vast stone walls of The Wave.
The Front Side, photo by Harold Davis.
This is a photo about lines, textures, and the contrast between smooth white and dark black. Really, this is true.
Cathedral Spires and Bridalveil Falls, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
This is a view of Bridalveil Falls and Cathedral Spires in Yosemite Valley processed to simulate a pinhole camera: vignetting at the edges, softness, brightness in the center, high depth-of-field, and an overall antique look.
Digital simulations of “looks” from the back pages of classic analog photography are great fun!
Kimi Solarization, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
Speaking of solarization—we were talking about solarization, right?—here’s a black and white photo of the model Kimi treated to virtual solarization.
For those who don’t know, solarization—also sometimes called the Sabattier effect—in the chemical darkroom meant re-exposing already exposed film or photographic paper to light, often creating an inversion or partial inversion (reversal of blacks and whites). Digital solarization is a virtual simulation, or replication, of this effect.
Solarized Hellebore, photo by Harold Davis.
Solarization in photography reverses blacks and whites. Also called the Sabattier effect, in the chemical darkroom solarization was achieved by exposing an already exposed negative or print to light before development was finalized.
In the Photoshop darkroom, there are of course a number of ways to achieve a simulated solarization effect; the solarized (and converted to monochrome) version of Hellebore Curves is one example.
Mare Island Infrared, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
While on the topic of infrared captures, this is an IR photo of a drydock at the old Mare Island naval shipyard. I particularly noticed the way the infrared capture increased the contrast and drama in the sky.
Infrared Alice, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
This is a capture of Alice using a camera retrofitted to only shoot IR.
Rendition of colors (or black and whites in this case) is quite odd using IR and seems to depend on the light source—studio strobe lighting in this capture. If you look at my shots of Alice by visible light you’ll see that her eyes are light blue (not black as in the IR capture) and that her underwear is opaque black, not the slightly transparent taupe that her bra and panties appear to be under IR.
Some other infrared model shots: Infrared Portrait; Dream; Christianna.
There’s a section explaining black and white infrared (IR) photography in my forthcoming book Creative Black & White: Digital Photography Tips & Technques.
Winter Vista, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
To enhance this monochromatic winter vista of Yosemite, I used a split toning effect. I added a deeper sepia tone to the darker tones, and lighter sepia to the brighter areas of the image.
In the analog darkroom, toning was a function of paper, processing and chemistry. Split toning was achieved by altering the process so that highlights were handled differently from the dark areas of the photo; for example, by stopping a chemical bath at an earlier point than normal.
In the Photoshop darkroom toning and split toning are, of course, virtual—like the entire digital monochromatic process. Digital black and white is an aesthetic intention with soul, a willful abnegation of color, and an intentional and anachronistic reference to the historical craft of photography.
You can learn more about toning and split toning techniques in Photoshop in Creative Black & White: Digital Photography Tips & Technques.
Capitolio Nacional, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
This is a shot—or, more accurately, three shots—of the Cuban Capitolio Nacional in Havana. The elegant building is mostly empty, and was hardly ever used for its intended purpose.
I took the photos that went into this extended range composite on a tripod, using my 10.5mm fisheye lens at f/22 and ISO 100. The captures were made at 0.4 seconds, 0.6 seconds and 1.3 seconds. The fisheye made for a pretty vertiginous effect, and I decided to see if I could amp it up with some black and white HDR processing.
I fed the three captures in RAW form through Photomatix and then played with the tone curve. After processing, I borrowed a trick from Trey Ratcliffe and re-processed. You can do this by hitting the Apple (Ctrl on Windows) key and the ‘T’ key. I used the second tone curve application to lighten the image up. Processing twice (or, hey, even three times) in Photomatix isn’t right for every image, but for some it works wonders.
The Photomatix version of HDR usually doesn’t appeal much to me (Ratcliffe’s images are no exception in this regard). The good news when you convert to black and white is that you lose the garish colors.
I used the Nik Silver Efex Pro High Structure filter to add a little more definition—and a bit more tonal range—to an already pretty highly charged black and white image.
Reach for the Sky, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.
This is a black and white rendition of my rather dramatic fisheye image of Bristlecone Pines, some of the oldest living things, photographed in the White Mountains along the California-Nevada border.
