my heating fuel supply

[davidhampshire]

wood is a lot of work and mess to heat a house with.     fa 28  f2.8;     f3.2,   1/200sec ,  iso  160

[Ron Kruger]

I heated with wood only for almost a decade, beginning with my mountain man adventure during the late '80s. Great, even heat. Warms you to the bone. But it is messy and toward spring, I got tired of feeding the stove.

[Pacerr]

Did it for two years myself -- fortunately in the moderate climate of Puget Sound where less than two cords per year was plenty.

But it sure is a comfort to know there's a plentiful supply of wood around and a way to use it when an ice storm takes out electrical power for two weeks or so.

That add meaning to the phrase "a three dog night"!

H2

 

[blackcloudbrew]

David, this is the start of a nice composition but the focus is quite soft. Was that intentional? Also, it would have been better to have not included that branch in the foreground, I find it a bit distracting. I don't mean to be too critical here but this one is either creative or a bit off for my taste. However, a slightly different location might work better here. I like the tonalities in this though. It's a nice feeling b&w conversion.

[davidhampshire]

it's the lugging the wood in from the woods that's the killer,  ron,  and pacer;     stacking it up is fun though.     and bcb,   i used the default black and white setting on the k-5,    but wanted the background out of focus a bit,    so the f 3.2,    and the branch,   well,    thought i was being a little too artsy  ,   don't know.     how do you get the black blacks in black in white ?   dave

[blackcloudbrew]

Hmmm...getting the blacks in b&w...that's an interesting question. I'm sure that much has been written about this very subject, very much. It's kinda your job as the artist to get it there, I believe. It's going to start by virtue of what you decided to shoot, is there enough contrast in the subject, is your exposure such that you will get rich tonalities in the image, do you want to bias the exposure towards over or under exposure? Lots of things to think about and...how do you want to treat it in post processing? Any and all of those go into the answer to your question, with the other side of this being are there black areas of the image that have information in it you want to make lighter?

Dude, black and white photography is all about making blacks blacker in b&w images (and whites too). It's about the decisions you make on the composition and exposure. I think that about covers it all.

[Ron Kruger]

Back in my B&W days, I often used a red filter to darken the blacks and add contrast.

[davidhampshire]

thanks,  bcb;   those infrared seem to have a deep black-ness to the blacks.

and ,  just a regular screw-on type of  red filter,  ron?   that could work;   

[blackcloudbrew]

My IR shots are another matter but blacker blacks are easier to achieve in IR light (I believe).

A red filter will make the sky dark and white clouds WHITE. Yes, a plain old screw in red filter will give your images a different look. I think though that it's more about exposure and choice of composition than just adding a filter. Using a polarizer may help as well.
I don't remember which camera you have but the K20d and later have digital filters (like yellow, orange, red etc. ) to play with. When I shoot b&w film I'll use  yellow, orange, red filters at times to darken things and get those kinds of deep contrasts.

[davidhampshire]

there are a bunch of filter-effects under the monochrome setting of the k5,   maybe i'll try a few of them,   there is even an infrared filter effect.     guess it can't hurt to experiment with those for a bit.     dave

[Pacerr]

[quote =david] . . .  how do you get the black blacks in black in white ?   
[/quote]

Try Levels and/or curves. Adjust the left side of the histogram. Take the left and right side of the curve to the edge of the profile without clipping. Then play with contrast a wee bit.

Download the free trial of Nik Silver Efex and study the pre-sets and adjustments including the built-in color filter effects.

[blackcloudbrew]

Excellent advice Pacerr!

[davidhampshire]

i would definitely try this ,  pacerr,    if i had a clue as to what you were talking about        dave   ( maybe i should just pack it in  )     

[blackcloudbrew]

David, I don't recall what software you have for post processing and I don't know what training may be available to you. But if you have something like a junior college or something that would provide you with some formal training in PhotoShop, I suggest that you take it if you can. Sounds like it would be a useful experience. $0.02.

[davidhampshire]

but i hate post processing  BCB !     oh gee,   i have to cave in to the modern world................    i know,   all the arguments both sides of post processing,  ansel adams all that ...........