A couple of weeks ago, I aimed a macro lens at some new leaves on my catawba grapevine and saw an unusual range of colors in its tiny shoots. I’ve only had the vine for about three years, and this may have been the first time I took a close-up look at it this early in the spring. Much of its orange, purple, and magenta color luminance — that you can see in the images here — is still apparent as the leaves grow, and I’m working on another set or two of similar photos. The vine made an appearance here last June in this post: Secrets Inside a Grapevine.
This is only the third time I’ve tried to convert a gallery of photos from color to black and white in Lightroom; for this set I used the same approach I took in my previous two attempts:
Before and After: Bradford Pear, Blooming in Black and White
Before and After: Camera Studies Camera in Black and White
This kind of black-and-white conversion makes the images more abstract, where the main subject takes on prominence while the backgrounds — originally consisting of softly focused and desaturated colors — fade even further toward insignificance, barely suggesting context or placement for the subject. These three screenshots, from Lightroom, show my typical adjustments:
I find it challenging to decide, with black-and-white processing, when I’m actually finished with the images. With color, there’s always a point where I feel like “I’m done” … but with black and white, I’m still learning how to recognize that shift. This is where I ended out; here are the final versions of the eleven converted photos:
If you would like to compare the color and black-and-white versions, select the first image below to begin a slideshow.
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
Dale these images are so good. Really enjoyed looking at them. I love the colours in the vine. I must say that I identify with you when you share how you struggle to know when you’re finished with a black and white image.
Hi, Don, glad you liked the photos! I think part of my struggle with black and white is just lack of experience, but it also seems like I spend a lot more time trying to figure out how the image conveys something different than it does in color. So far, I tend to fade out almost everything in the background then put some of it back, then take some away again then put some back, sliding those sliders around until my fingers bleed (possible exaggeration). But it’s a lot of fun anyway!! 🙂
Thanks for the comment!
I get what you mean, Dale. I never know when black is too black, or when white is too white, or when grey is too grey.?