Creating a Black and White Landscape Portfolio with Fotospeed DUO Papers & Spring Back Binders
In this video I continue my exploration of black and white landscape photography by creating a portfolio of prints using Fotospeed DUO papers and a Fotospeed Spring Back Binder.
Black and White Landscape Photography - Part 2
A few months ago, I published a video where I talked about my journey as a black and white landscape photographer. Something I never thought I would say, but hey, we all grow and change as photographers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not exclusively a black and white photographer now, it’s just that capturing black and white while on location is something I now think about.
In this follow up video I’m going to take a selection of the black and white photographs I’ve been capturing and printing them to make my first black and white landscape photography portfolio. It was something I always intended on doing and I’m very happy with the results. Watch the video below to find out why!
Useful Links and Information
Watch Part 1
🎞️ Watch The Dance of Light and Shadow - How Black and White is Changing My Landscape Photography - Part 1
Fotospeed Papers
Use the discount code Julian15 and get 15% off Fotospeed papers at Fotospeed.com
🛒 Purchase Fotospeed Art Smooth DUO 210 - https://fotospeed.com/fotospeed-art-smooth-duo-210-short-grain.html
🛒 Purchase Fotospeed High White Smooth Lite DUO 225 - https://fotospeed.com/high-white-smooth-duo-225.html
🛒 Purchase Fotospeed Matt DUO 240 https://fotospeed.com/matt-duo-240.html
🛒Fotospeed Spring Back Binders - https://fotospeed.com/presentation/springback-binders.html
More of my printing videos worth watching:
🎞️ Fotospeed Spring Back Binders
🎞️ My Canon Pro-1100 review and setup video
Other Useful Links
🔗 Fotospeed Art of Printing eBook - https://fotospeed.com/ebook/artofprinting
🔗 Fotospeed Generic Profiles for the Canon Pro-1100 - https://fotospeed.com/profiles/printer/ink/ink/62/
🔗 Fotospeed Custom Profiling Service - https://fotospeed.com/support/
The Dance of Light and Shadow - How Black and White is Changing My Landscape Photography - Part 1
What’s the point in creating black and white landscape photographs? Is it just a last-ditch attempt to rescue a poor photograph? In this video I tell you why I’m now using black and white and with intent. Join me on #Dartmoor to find out more.
Dartmoor - A Land of Light and Shadow
It's funny, but probably not wholly unexpected, that the more experience you gain with landscape photography the more likely it is that your photography tastes will change over time. And this is what has happened to me. Kind of.
I say kind of because the style of landscape photographs that I like to capture hasn't changed. I still take natural looking photographs with minimal editing, using a wide-angle lens, and with lots of contrast and colour. It's just that now I'm happy to occasionally drop the colour element and work in black and white.
Capturing black and white landscape photographs is nothing new, and there are plenty of great photographers capturing black and white images of Dartmoor, but for me it's a style of landscape photography I'm getting increasingly comfortable with.
In the video below I talk more about my adoption of black and white landscape photography, how the Nikon Z8 is helping me, and I do it all from the land of light and shadow, Dartmoor.
Enjoy and let me know in the comments below your experience of black and white landscape photography.
Yes Tor Photography Gallery
Here are the photographs you saw me capture in the video.
Yes Tor #1, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 17mm, f/13, 1/13 sec at ISO 64.
Yes Tor #2, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 14mm, f/13, 1/13 sec at ISO 64.
Yes Tor #3, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 18mm, f/13, 1/13 sec at ISO 64.
Yes Tor #4, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 23mm, f/13, 1/13 sec at ISO 64.
Yes Tor #5, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 30mm, f/13, 1/6 sec at ISO 64.
Bite-Size Blog Post #24 - Yes Tor
I'm on a journey to expand my creative toolbox to include black and white photography. Find out in this blog post why my Dartmoor photography is changing.
Are My Tastes Maturing?
My kids have a limited palette when it comes to the foods they eat. There was a phase that if the food wasn’t yellow and it hadn’t came from the freezer, they wouldn’t eat it! I was certainly no different at that age, living on a steady diet of turkey drummers. But as I got older my tastes changed, and by the time I had a “proper” job I was eating at restaurants and drinking wine. Ginger beer and heavily processed turkey breaded drumsticks were not on the menu.
Much in the same way my food palette has expanded, it looks like my photographing style is expanding to include black & white photography. I’ve always been able to appreciate a good black & white landscape photograph, but I’ve never been able to effectively translate the style into my own photographs.
Yes Tor, Dartmoor National Park, Devon - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 14mm, f/13, 1/15 sec at ISO 64.
Life Without Colour
Recently though I’ve started taking more black & white photographs, especially of my local area, Dartmoor National Park. I admit, my first few black & white Dartmoor photographs were hasty conversions in an effort to save a mediocre shot, but I have now started to look at what the world would look like without colour.
I would classify myself as a classic landscape photographer and this I believe is reflected in the photographs I capture of Dartmoor. Lots of big open views taken during the golden hours. I like to think of these photographs as showing off Dartmoor in its best light. And while these photographs a true representation of Dartmoor, those conditions can be rare. Frustratingly rare!
It’s from that frustration that my interest in photographing Dartmoor in black & white has come about. Being able to see Dartmoor in a way that suits the conditions has freed me a little from the constraints of only being pleased when there is a certain type of light.
Cosdon Hill, Dartmoor National Park, Devon - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 56mm, f/13, 1/20 sec at ISO 64.
Previsualtion
One of the reasons I am starting to photograph Dartmoor more in black and white is the effectiveness of Picture Controls on my Nikon Z8. In particular the Picture Control “deep tone monochrome” has become invaluable in helping me previsualise a Dartmoor photograph in black and white. Being able to previsualise the scene in black & white on my camera has freed me from the guilt of believing I’m only converting as a last resort
And now that Lightroom also has that profile built in, I have to do a lot less guess work in getting the photograph to look the way I saw it on the back of the camera when I captured it.
Hunt Tor, Dartmoor National Park, Devon - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 24-10mm f/4 S at 120mm, f/13, 1/20 sec at ISO 64.
The End of Colour in My Dartmoor Photographs?
As much as I have and will continue to enjoy taking Dartmoor photographs in black and white, this does not mean the end of colour for me. Far from it. Getting up early in the morning and experiencing the joy of a glorious sunrise is something I will always love to witness and to photograph.
What black and white gives me though is another tool in my creative toolbox. Something that I have in my portfolio of photography styles, rather than something to fall back on. I know what all you hardcore black and white photographers are saying…what took you so long! All I can say is, it doesn’t matter how long it took me to get here, the point is that I’m here, and I love it.
Yes Tor, Dartmoor National Park, Devon - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 24-10mm f/4 S at 26mm, f/13, 1/20 sec at ISO 64.
Capturing the Decisive Moment - On the Streets of Birmingham with the Fujifilm X-T2
After watching a few videos on street photography I was inspired to give it a try myself. So armed with a Fujifilm X-T2 I hit the streets of Birmingham. Was I able to capture the decisive moment?
The Fujifilm X-T2, Street Photography and Being Inspired
I'd never really considered doing street photography before. I've definitely enjoyed looking at street photography much in the same way that I like and appreciate many different genres of photography. However, actually going out and doing a bit of street photography didn't really seem like my kind of thing.
Recently though I've been coming around to the idea that street photography might indeed be something I’d want to try. I think most of this new found motivation has come from watching street photography videos from my good friend, photographer and fellow vlogger Gareth Danks. The more I watched his videos the more I wanted to give this genre of photography a try.
When I mentioned this Gareth he very kindly offered to take me out and help me capture some street photographs. As fortune would have it we were both spending a couple of days at The Photography Show a few weeks back so we decided that we should hit the streets of Birmingham on the Saturday evening. I was really excited about the prospect of trying something new with my photography.
As I was going to try something new with my photography, I thought I also needed a new camera for the job. But what camera should I get for street photography? Well, there was only one camera I was really considering and that was a Fujifilm. So I got myself a Fujifilm X-T2 and hit the streets with my Fujifilm camera and street photography guru, Gareth.
Can I Capture that Decisive Moment?
So how did I get on? Did I manage to get some good street photographs? Let's find out…
Learning Photography All Over Again
As you'll have seen in the video I didn't find street photography easy. To be honest though, I didn't think I would. It was actually a bit like learning photography all over again. Plus I had the added challenge of learning a new camera system. However, despite all that I really, really enjoyed it. I was lucky to not only have Gareth to help with composition, camera setup, but to also to video it for me. I don't think I would have been able to manage my vlogging camera along with everything else.
All that aside, I liked the challenge of finding and capturing compositions. In some respects, it’s the same as landscape photography. You find a good composition and you wait for the right moment, but in a city environment, you need to have your eyes trained in a different way. Gareth was just wondering about picking out compositions and at first, I was just walking by everything. Step by step though, I started getting into the flow. Yes, it was a challenge, but a fun challenge.
Rent or Buy
It's worth pointing out that while I did use a Fujifilm X-T2 for this shoot, I did not buy this camera. I've always wanted to try a Fujifilm camera so for this street photography shoot I decided to rent one for the weekend. I got my rental through WEX Rental. Service was fast and efficient and I got the whole weekend rental for the cost of just one day's normal rental. I also paid for delivery and collection service so it was delivered and collected from my house on Friday and Monday respectively. Great service!
Birmingham Street Photography
I'm certainly not going to claim that my photographs are amazing. Like any genre of photography, it's going to require a lot of practice to ever get even remotely good. However, I very much enjoyed the experience so I'm keen to do more and see how my street photography progresses.
Have you done any street photography before? Got any street photography tips? What is your favourite location? Let me know in the comments below.
Finally, here are some of the photos I captured.
