I was asked to give a talk at the February meeting of the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP).
Some time back there was a Black and White Challenge on facebook – the idea was to post 1 black and white image a day for 5 days. I took up the challenge but at the time I couldnt bring myself to convert any of my underwater images. There’s just so much colour below the surface! Instead I concentrated on above water pictures
In preparing for this talk, I spent ages converting 150 of my images in order to determine which looked good in black and white. Some worked, some didn’t, some I’ve now decided look better in black and white! This photo of spinner dolphins in the red-sea is one of those.
I’m rather pleased I’ve gone through the process; it’s made me more aware of what to look out for and I’m hoping it will improve my colour photography too!
I’ve uploaded a PDF version of my presentation for those that might wish to read it. The first part concentrates on subject selection (what makes a good subject and what specifics to look out for, etc). The second section focuses on some of the techniques involved in converting to black and white on the computer. I concentrated on methods available in Adobe’s Lightroom software… mainly because I’m very familiar with it but secondly because it’s a very popular and easy to learn application.
You’ll Find The PDF Here
I got good feedback after the talk and I was really happy to have so much support from friends and respected peers. I was also really happy to be able to relax after the break and listen to Matt Doggett give a talk about his diving adventures around the UK. Matt was named British Underwater Photographer of the Year at the dive show earlier in February.
