Comparison VSCO Black and White – Buddy

Here is Buddy with various VSCO B&W film treatments. I didn’t want to do the toy in the grass as the red and green read to close to each other in black and white. The differences can be subtle. What happens to Buddy’s eyes? The background? The shadows in his fur? All I did was add each film filter. I did not tweak. Obviously the filter is just the starting point and can be adjusted to suit one’s vision.

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Original

Kodak TRI-X 400

Kodak T-MAX 3200

Kodak BW400CN

Kodak BW400CN 400 Night-Tungsten

Ilford HPS

Fuji Neopan 400

Fuji Neopan 400 Night-Tungsten

Agfa Scala 200

In the backyard

Nina on the prowl.

Buddy on alert.

Nina and the Grid

I bought a set of grids for my Einstein. Grids are used to restrict the spread of the light. The other night I took the 10° grid for a ride. I shot these in our family room. The light spread is so narrow you can’t see the furniture behind her.

How I Spent My Sunday, Part 1

In the morning, Bark for Life! (My first slide show!)

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A useful tool: Topaz DeNoise

I took this original shot at 6400 ISO with lots of noise:

Original

And using Topaz DeNoise converted the shot to this:

DeNoise, BW conversion, soft vignette

Topaz DeNoise allows one to get rid of the noise without destroying the clarity of the photograph.

If you click on each of the images they will open in a separate window where you can examine the larger image. I am particularly happy with her whiskers which still maintain their detail, rather than turning into a blurry mess (which is usually what happens with most “remove grain/noise” options in processing software).

Target

My brother’s family’s dog. She’s a sweet girl.

On the other hand . . .

Nina wasn’t really into the shoot, but I needed the practice.

Nina by window light.

400 ISO, 1/100s, f/2.8. Light source: bay window to camera left

The two of them

Another from my natural light session with the pups. I just love how the light wraps around them. Our white ceiling helps to spread the light even more.