Tag: MWM

Mossy bridge

Pacific Northwest Photo Challenges 2 Comments
Old mossy bridge on the East Historic Columbia River Highway.
Black and white digital photo of a mossy bridge near Latourell Falls on the East Historic Columbia River Highway.

This mossy bridge is by Latourell Falls in the Columbia Gorge. We found it following the old US Highway 30, a.k.a., East Historic Columbia River Highway. I stopped the car at the falls because the filtered sunlight on the moss caught my eye. I’m not sure why I decided to experiment with black and white, since the scene was closer to monochrome in green. But the lines of the old bridge, probably a CCC project during the depression, suit black and white.

The original photo of the mossy bridge shows the moss better than the black and white, on the other hand the black and white emphasizes the elegant lines of the old bridge.

Original color photo

I took this picture with my Sony RX10iv camera, settings were: f13, ISO 100, 1/25s, 18.92mm focal length. I used the GIMP’s Desaturate filter in the Colors menu and a vignette to create the black and white. For a little information about using open source software to create black and white images check out this post: Black and white digital photo processing: Part 1.

For Brashley Photography’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Alive and Trekking’s Which Way photo challenges.

Camellia in black and white: “Pink Perfection”

Flora Photo Challenges 1 Comment
A camellia, originally pale pink, converted to black-and-white using Raw Therapee.
“Pink Perfection” in Black-and-White

The name of this camellia is “pink perfection”, but I think it looks good in black and white, especially with the dusting of snow on the leaves. This pale beauty starts to bloom around the beginning of the year and lasts through March. Winter came late this year and the only significant snowfall occurred after the flowers were starting to bloom. I caught this as the snow was starting. Soon afterwards it got thick and we trotted for home.

I took this with my Sony RX10iv camera. Basic settings: F4, 1/80s, focal length 52.8mm (35mm equivalent: 144mm). I converted it into black-and-white using Raw Therapee then cropped and added a vignette in the GIMP. Click here for information about using Raw Therapee’s Black-and-White tool.

Posted for Brashley Photography’s Mid-week Monochrome.

In the original color image there was a bit of discoloration, converting to black and white disguises these.
Original image.

For a flower that bruises and discolors there is an advantage to black and white: it hides some of these imperfections. This pale pink flower shows bruising very easily. For this particular camellia, in black and white you can focus on the shapes and textures without the distraction of the imperfections.

Plum blossom in Black and White

Flora Photo Challenges Photo Processing 1 Comment

For Brashley Photography’s Mid-week Monochrome, a harbinger of spring the plum blossom, in black and white. I guess the raindrops are also a harbinger of spring!

Black and white photo of a plum blossom, converted using Raw Therapee.
Plum blossom in black and white.

This image was taken with my Sony RX10M4: F2.4, 8.8mm, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/125s. I processed it in Raw Therapee, then cropped and resized it and added a vignette in the GIMP.

I used Raw Therapee to do the conversion to Black and White. Specifically, the Channel Mixer method in the Black and White tool under the Colors tab. The preset was Absolute ROYGCBPM. Applying a special effect to the magenta and sliding down the green gamma setting. For information about how to use that tool check out this post: Black and White Digital Photo Processing-Part 2: Using Raw Therapee.

Both Raw Therapee and the GIMP are open source software (free!).

Original color image:

Original color image of the plum blossom, which was converted to black and white.

© 2024 K.S. McCormick

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