Virginia in Black & White

I had two rolls of black & white film developed this week. I've finally decided - firmly, resolutely, with no further doubt whatsoever - that I prefer getting my rolls developed and put on CD and skipping the prints. For one thing, getting prints made doubles the processing costs. For another, I don't have room to store or display hundreds of prints. Finally, I always end up tweaking images before displaying them either on the web or in a frame anyway. Therefore, I might as well just keep all of the post-processing tasks to myself. So much for my idea that film would liberate me from the computer! Oh, well, live and learn. When I get a new computer, I'm also going to get a scanner. That way, I'll be able to scan the developed negatives myself and save the cost of having the developer scan them for me.

Taking photos on black & white film presents some unique challenges. Since the photographer is looking at the scene in color, he or she has to think about how the scene will look as shades of black, white and gray. For example, if one takes a color photo of a red rose against a backdrop of green leaves, the colors are easily distinguished. The same photo in black and white, however, often makes everything look a fairly uniform shade of gray. The way to offset this effect is to use various filters to enhance or subdue particular colors. I need to get some more filters and start learning how to use them.

Okay, enough chatter. On to the photos. The rural photos were taken in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.






These two were taken in the park near my office. I've flipped the last one upside down to make it look like an impressionist painting.




That's all I have for tonight. Joshua has a football game in a couple of days, so I'll have lots more photos soon.