The Art of Seeing

As you progress with your photography over several years you are able to learn what some call the Art of Seeing.
Bryan Petersen has written a very good book about the subject.
The Bible tells us that until we become Christians we are blinded to the truth of the Gospel and cannot see clearly the message of the Gospel.
By hearing the word of God our Faith can grow until we see.
With photography the art of seeing is something that can be learned with practice.
One morning I noticed through our loungeroom window nice light shining on the roses and flowers just outside our window.
I saw the opportunity for a nice photo and grabbed my camera.
This is an example of the art of seeing.
I like the end result and the fact that the real flowers are out of focus and the embroidered ones are not.

Slightly enhanced with iPhoto special effects

More iphoto subtle variations

These are 3 variations of the same image using iPhoto special effects adjustments.
l like all the images.
Taken on a Pentax Kx DSLR.

Eucalypt Renmark South Australia

An Eye for Black and White

Glenelg Beach-Approaching Storm

Colour extraction special filter effect on PentaxKX

Colour extraction special filter effect on PentaxKX with edge blurring

Interior of Train Carriage at Port Adelaide Train Museum-iPhoto editing

Interior of Train Carriage at Port Adelaide Train Museum-iPhoto editing

Using Gradient tool in Photoshop

iPhoto adjustment on Mac

Using Gradient tool in Photoshop

A fair way back in my Wedding Photography journey I received a phone call from a prospective customer about a wedding.
She told me she wanted some artistic black and white photography at the wedding.
This was in the days of film.
I told her quite truthfully that I did not believe I had a good eye for what would make a good black and white shot.
I convinced her to try a new photographer who had done my wedding course as I believed he had some artistic flair.

She went with that and he did his first wedding shoot and the customer loved what he did and he was on his way as a professional photographer.

Is there any thing to be learned from this.

I probably could have met her expectations but I was lacking confidence to do what was required.

It may not have been a good business decision on my part but it helped launch someone's career so I was happy about that.

Now I love the challenge of shooting black and white or at least converting it to black and white afterwards.

I believe I have developed an "eye" for what will work in black and white and what won't.

Of course when we were still shooting film I grew to  love Ilford's XP2 negative film.
It was pretty foolproof for black and white photography on a wedding.

To develop an eye for black and white set yourself an exercise where you do a day's shooting with your camera set to mono only.
You will learn heaps.
Also you could set your camera to Mono and shoot raw or raw plus jpeg,
Your raw mono pics can be processed as colour  also.

Or alternatively do a day's shoot with the object of seeing how many shots you can make into good black and white image.

I have include a few samples of black and white images that I think have worked fine  after converting from colour.

I go through my files from time to time looking for shots to change over.

Colour to Black and White-Old Farm House

This old Farm House I came across on a family outing. Took some shots into the sun and did not have a lens shade for my camera. Shaded lens with my hand then cropped and converted to black and white in iPhoto. Made something out of a nothing shot. I like it.

Pentax Special Effects and iPhoto Effects

Main street of Piangil Victoria from moving car and focus did not lock

Same scene using posterize effect on Pentax Kr

Silver Gulls through parked car front window on River Murray at Kerang Victoria

Same shot cropped in iPhoto on Mac then black and white and darkened using special effects filter and corners blurred.

A couple of samples where the special effects on the Pentax Kr and also iphoto on the Mac can give impact to failures and ordinary shots. In my opinion that is.