B&W Photography Project

The Google+ group I belong to has us going out to collect a series of photos and combine them in something like a triptych.  
You don't have to stick to 3 shots, it can be as many as you want.

I like to stick to three as it is easier in a way for me.

The processing should be equivalent in the photos.  Meaning they should be the same in B&W.

What?
B&W can be different?

Sure it can.  You can add effects that give it a sepia look, or a grainy look, or choose different processing techniques.
This occurs in 'your' computer lab and not in the dark room anymore.  
I like experimenting with different looks.

The above shots were all done in color and that morning I took a walk after a very heavy fog had lifted and was entranced by the dewdrops on the oats.
Of course I was sure that I brought the wrong camera lens with me.  A kit zoom lens that I'd bought years ago.

But I thought I could make the shots work.  I was happy that I did.
These were shot in jpeg and then processed in PaintShopPro.  I have an aversion to Adobe pushing me to use their products on line for a fee.  I used Topaz BW Effects 2 to 'develop' the shots into B&W with Silver Paper Toning.

Side note, I'd like to try the NIK collection, but feel I can achieve much the same effects with Topaz Software which I've had for years.

I'd secretly like to have ALL plugins and programs, but then I'd constantly be wondering what to use!

My next series is supposed to be something current, or something I go out with purpose to find and shoot as a series.

Well being a 'creative' type I usually have trouble when I am told what to do in a creative sense.
So I thought I'd work on photos of a pea blossom from the garden.

They were so beautiful to photograph!

And then I got distracted...

Of course that wasn't the only thing I found beautiful.  
There was a tomato blossom that caught my eye.

Oh ... and then I went riding and took my cheap plastic pink camera.

And I found the lane and the sky amazing from the view point of sitting in the saddle.

Oh wait.
I drove to town that morning and had my old Nikon D40 with me.
I stopped along the side of the road twice to take photos of the fields and sky.

It was amazing.

Then I just had to get a shot of the road that just ends in the sky...or appears to.

So without thinking I think I may have found my 'series' anyway.

The dark contrast in this last series was achieved by using the 'color filter' in Topaz B&W Effects.  The color filter really can assist with getting a look you might want to achieve.

I'm not sure, but I think it is a toss up between the photos in the country lane or the photos of the skies with the road as the middle shot.
Now I know the road is not consistent with a theme, unless the theme that guides it is all about the cloud and sky.

Well that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.