Weekly Black and White Photography thread #4 for (23 Feb 2025)

Sky

Birds of a feather

Winter Tree

I wanted this to be a fairly minimalist interpretation to bring across the feelings of cold and isolation in Winter.

I like this one, with its compositions of three groupings of trees and birds on a rising diagonal through the frame. The fact that the groupings get looser through that visual flow is very cool. The little sliver of countryside is good too, as it grounds the image (literally), without turning it into a pure landscape or distracting from the subject.
For my taste, the vignetting on the left is much too heavy. If it was more in line with the right, both in position and intensity, it would be beneficial. I assume the vignetting is to direct the eye to the subjects in the centre of the frame, but I feel it achieves the opposite and, being such a large dark area, it actually attracts the eye. In fact you could try reducing the vignette on both sides slightly, as the vignette can be very subtle, but still achieve its aim.

This works extremely well as a B&W. I can imagine it would have been tempting to leave it as colour, but I am glad you didn't. The tonality is well captured, with the highlights well controlled and with deep, but not overpowereing blacks. The sea is gorgeous with its shiny undulating textures and a glossy fairly hard contrast. The sky is also beautiful, but in a very different way to the sea. The contrast and interesting shapes are there, but the contrast is more gradual and the sky has a far softer look. The sunrays are a real bonus, and have been captured to show them distinctly, but without going overboard on enhancing contrast.
I also like the fact that the little details of islands and ships are on the horizon line, which means they can be tiny and unobtrusive, but are still easily spotted.

You have look at this one large. Oh how many rules did you break - which is what makes the image. “I didn't write the rules, why should I follow them?", W. Eugene Smith. Nice work. BTW how do you like the Q3 43 - boy am I temped by that camera.

Pete, a great example of minimalism. It works well, I just had to put on a sweater. 😉

The Sounds of Silence

Steve Thomas

I thought when you had a Jeep, you got ducked.

Nobody told me you got catted too.

Steve Thomas

The Time Tunnel

[For anyone who remembers the TV show]

Outlet shopping mall at the O2 Millennium Dome complex on the Greenwich peninsula, London.

Shortly after taking this I was approached by security and told to put my camera away. Meanwhile, a hundred people with iPhones were snapping away unmolested. Such is the irrationality of human life 😕

Foggy

Fog and B&W are inseparable... [updated with lighter verson]