# black and white beach



## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

depression hit hard today so i grabbed my camera and took it to the wild and windy west coast...










i have more, but my computer took 3/4 hour to work on this one, very very slow... need to defrag. will try and post some more over the next couple of days... meanwhile, i hope y'all have a great 4th July!

rosesm


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

gave up on photoshop for the sigs and just put these through picasa for one sharpen...





































the rest will definitely have to wait.

rosesm

edited to add: all were taking using the black and white settings on my D80 except the last image. the last image was 'normal colour' so you can see how awful a day it was. the sea was rough and was kicking up sand through the rips, hence the brown water close up near the cliff edge where i was standing.

i read recently that it's best to take black and white shots in colour and then to convert them to black and white in post processing. i've no idea how worthwhile that is. the first three shots in this thread seem pretty good black and whites as far as i can tell.

yes, c&c is welcome please. i want to learn more about black and white.

rosesm


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## The Machine (Jun 4, 2007)

outstanding pics


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## Walkin' Jack (May 20, 2004)

Karen, those black and whites bring out some of the powerful "moods" that beaches can display. I think those demonstrate that very well. 

I suppose everyone will tell you that they LOVE the beach. But so many only LOVE the beach when the sun us out and the sky is blue and the surf is calm. I have always felt that to truly love the beach you must love it in ALL it's different moods and temperments. Our beaches here have always been my spiritual home. There is nowhere I can go to feel closer to God and closer to my own heart. To me she is like a woman with a wide variety of moods. Sometimes she can be generous and hold you like a lovers arms. Sometime she can be angry and try her best to crush you in her power. And like a woman you have to be able to recognize when she is being generous and when she is raging. But you love her no matter what. You respect her when you must and let her hold you and comfort you when she will but no matter what you love her always. 

We have always loved to rent a beach house during the winter and enjoy walking the beach on a cold blustery day and then come in and enjoy a roaring fire by the fire place and steaming mugs of hot cocoa by the hearth. So many people don't seem to realize that the beach and surf offer a variety of pleasures. It's thier loss....

Anyway your pics triggered some wonderful moments Pam and I have shared on the beach. Thanks


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## allicat (May 20, 2004)

Incredible pictures Karen!! I totally agree with Jack. Some of my best days at the beach haven't been when it was a warm and sunny day. I really love the one with the seagull and rainy clouds.

Trudy


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## mastercylinder60 (Dec 18, 2005)

sweet, karen. i love black & white photography much more than color. it takes a true artistic eye to make quality b&w photos.


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## seawings (Aug 28, 2004)

I've always been a "storm chaser"...I love storms. Nothing emotes the strength and power of nature more than a stormy day and nothing seems to capture the true essence of a storm than black and white photography. While your pictures are not "stormy", they do convey the moodiness of weather, the beach and the tenuous relationship we have between land and sea. Great pictures...thanks for sharing.


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

I think I actually like the last one the most. At first I was going to say something about the tilted horizon  but then I noticed the cable was at the same angle and it all evened out nicely because of that. Turns out to be wonderfully devided into thirds too. Maybe that is part of the reason it feels right. I really enjoy seeing your beaches. Hopefully someday I will get the chance to see them in person. Keep up the great work.
I am not sure how you convert yours to B&W when using Photoshop but there are a number of different ways, as you probably already know, that create a lot better effect than just a straight desaturation. I like using the Channel Mixer myself.


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## Ibeafireman (Jul 24, 2006)

That third picture is a great shot.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

thanks for your thoughts and comments everyone... Jack i'm glad you got some memory prompts, that's part of what i think photography (and poetry) are about. 

James you're right! i didn't even see the sloping horizon. my eyeballs were spinning from sitting in front of the computer and that is no excuse for missing something so basic. thanks for pointing it out.

as for the converting. the first 4 were black and white setting on the camera, so no conversion. and the last was colour setting - the day was so black and white at times that colour was nearly non existent out there.

yes the converting i read about can apparently be done through the channels and settings. i'll give it a go one day, maybe... but admit i far prefer getting it right at the camera than sitting and playing in depth with post processing.

rosesm


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

Very nice shots Karen. They induce a lot of powerful emotion when viewing them.

If you have CS3, you can get some nice BW conversions in the Adobe Camera Raw dialog on the tab where you adjust saturationa and brightness for different hues. Put a check in the BW conversion box and the sliders change into channel mixers of sorts, except the hues are split into more but narrower bands than the three channels you get with a channel mixer.


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