Photography with anything other than my iPhone is new to me. So when pommepal from gypsy life: Taking time to see the details invited me to join the Black and White 5 day challenge I was interested, and dubious about what I might come up with.
I’ve been following pommepal for a while now. She’s a dab hand with the camera, a keen gardener, and she has permanently itchy feet. Check her out, you’ll enjoy her eye for detail. Her photo for day one includes an old Holden.
Since deciding to accept the challenge it’s taken me a few days to look through my photos and work out those which might respond well to the black and white treatment. I clicked off over a thousand while I was in Laos. As you can imagine sorting them out, which includes getting ruthless with the delete button, is an ongoing project.
I’m a twice a week blogger so posting daily will be an extra challenge for me. It is only for five days, though, and I think I might learn a lot.
My first photo for the challenge is a favourite in colour. The original is included in a post from just over a month ago : A day trip on the Nam Ou. To my surprise, I like it even more in black and white. Ha, I just showed it to John who says he likes it better in colour. Tell me, what do you think? And if you can tell me why that will help me even more.
Sunset at Nong Khiaw
There are only two rules for this challenge:
1. On 5 consecutive days, create a post using either a past or recent photo in B&W.
2. Each day invite another blogging friend to join in the fun.
My first nominee is Linda at Kerlundphoto. I think you might enjoy her photography. I met Linda at Blogging 101 last year, way back before I even had a camera. She’s from Sweden and I reckon she’s good, very good. Blogging is all about having fun so taking up the challenge is, of course, optional.
Categories: Laos
Jill's Scene 
I like the black and white sunset best. There is no colour to distract from the great composition. Sometimes less is more. The glint of the setting sun sets off the whole picture. Good capture Jill. 😊
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Thanks Maria, I do like the minimalist look – in lots of things, actually. In this photo I didn’t quite pull off the effect I wanted. Nearly, though.
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Beautiful scene.
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Glad you like it Mary. It’s a very beautiful part of the world.
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I checked back on your post Jill (I enjoyed it the first time and it was worth a second look) This b&w version is very dramatic and I like the shapes of the mountains and the composition, but, I think the colour version, for me, is the better as the last golden rays of the sun light up the whole photo. Good start.
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I think you’re right about that, pommepal, although I couldn’t see it when I first selected the photo. And thanks for going back and comparing!!
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I really enjoyed doing this challenge Jill, it made me look at my photos from a different perspective.
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So beautiful, great captured!
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Hi Linda, Thank-you!
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Difficult to choose between the two, Jill, but if you are forcing me to choose then I’d say I prefer the colour one because of all those soft colours in it. It’s a very close contest though 🙂
I’m starting this challenge on Monday as I’ve been tagged by Elizabeth over at Tea and Paper, so look out for mine as well 🙂
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Hi there Hugh, I’ll definitely be on the look-out for your responses to the challenge. There are lots of soft colours in the original of this image.
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I like the black and white version of the photo. I went back to the post to be sure.
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Thanks, Dan and thanks for checking out the colour version. It’s all a learning curve for me.
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Very dramatic with the sun peeping out.
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Thanks Claudette, that’s what exactly what I like about this photo.
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Nice one! It works reasonably well in black and white, but perhaps John prefers the colour version because there is more interest in the sky? The foreground? I haven’t seen the colour one, so I can’t compare
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Hi Sue, Thanks for your comment, you got me thinking about what I was trying to achieve. I love the way the sun seems to burn through the brow of the hill but I haven’t been able to maximise that sufficiently. Probably a combination of my limited editing tools and knowledge. Plus if I’d taken it as a raw image maybe I’d have been able to manipulate it a bit more. Your comment has helped me a lot, thanks.
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Thank you, Jill, glad to be of help! Do try. Shooting RAW, it will give you so many more opportunities in future….
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I can see that will be the next step for me.
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The great thing about it is that as software develops, you find yourself able to do more with older images you took in RAW.
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Beautiful!
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Thanks so much for visiting and commenting.
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