Reality in Black and White - Joao Rechena
I see the light
This one was taken last night at “Campo de Ourique”, we, me and katy, had to deliver flowers. It’s “Santo Condestavel” church. Used PS to convert to B&W using the channel mixer and some .cha’s that Nuno sent me. It was taken with ISO1600 and my 18-55mm lens. There is noticeable noise.
_________________________________
Destination: “Rato”
Taken this morning, while coming to work, on the subway station of “Entrecampos”, on the yellow line. Used PS with the channel mixer, some sharpening, and crop.
_________________________________
All aboard
On the same train station but with a different .cha to emulate another type of “35 m film”, can’t remember which one. Liked the notion of an infinite train.
_________________________________
The stairs
While also going to work I sat down on the stairs and pulled this photo, converted it to B&W on PS. Cloned out some garbage can on the front pole.
_________________________________
Disabled Crane
Every time I look at some crane I remember B&W, this one is disabled on the old “Siderurgia Nacional”. Taken from inside my car. Used PS to convert to B&W.
_________________________________
This week I’m suffering from something called “Photographer’s Block”, I didn’t like any of my photos, and I had no ideas, even working on PS everything looked too much complicated…even to write the texts… damn… 
As usual I had several ideas for a B&W assignment but… maybe next time…
I see the light
Definitely this isn’t your best shot :(. It lacks definition and sharpness. It would be better if you used a tripod, a lower ISO setting and a longer exposure. Cloning out the small lamps on the bottom of the picture would give a creepier look to it.
Destination: “Rato”
I love subway shots! And what I love about them is the contrast that you can create with motion and static elements. The blurring effect caused by the walking people, combined with the straight lines and the people seated, would be great. Next time you’ve to try it.
All aboard
On this one the same thing applies, if the train was in motion, the blur would make a nice effect, but, as it is, it lacks some contrast or a wider gamut of greys.
The Stairs
Same of the previous two comments apply here, but in this one the contrast is great. The zoom blur effect here it would be great, some of the steps and the gentleman on the right would stay focused, while the rest of the photo would appear like Star Trek entering on warp speed.
Disabled Crane
A little more of sharpness an a little contrast would enhance it, but on the overall is a nice photo, but I’ve bet a coloured version it looked better, just like my Leaf one, imagine the saturation in the blue sky.
For some obscure reason this week assignment didn’t go as expected to you, on my last week assignment the same happened to me, a bad mood, an unexpected problem is the enough reason for our creativity go down the drain, but we need to go over it. Ten weeks have passed, I think our evolution is notorious, some of us learned to improvise more with the limitations imposed by life, some of us explored techniques that would never explore if we haven’t got this weekly challenge… the week as passed like water under the bridge, now a new week is coming with new challenges, keep up the good work and you’ll excel (not the spreadsheet).
ncorreia said this on August 8th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
A little late but here are my comments:
1. To be honest I don’t like this shot. There is distracting stuff in the bottom, the church looks like it is leaning to the right side and there is considerable noise. The excess light in the tower and windows also make it look a little artificial.
2. I like this one better, although it also lacks definition or sharpness. But i like the “daily thing” type of message that it shows and I also noticed how early it was at the time…
3. A good idea but with a lot of improvement to be done next time: more contrast in order to get a complete scale from white to black, more sharpness and maybe a sense of movement in the train (tripod and a longer exposure at a lower ISO rating).
4. I like the idea but I think it would work much better if we could see much more of the man and the newspaper, kind of an over the shoulder type of shot.
5. The diagonal line works well but again everything is too much around the middle grey. In B&W I like to see a picture that captures the entire range from pure black to pure white, or as much as possible given the situation. Otherwise the shot kind of dies and looses with the lack of color.
Ok you were not so inspired this week, it shows. But keep up the good work!
MCA said this on August 25th, 2007 at 3:02 pm