Frith Wood

I couldn’t resist getting out with my camera this afternoon. I had the intention of taking some of my own black and white images after being inspired by the Lacock exhibition a few days ago. 

However, when I experimented with cyanotone and sepiatone settings, I decided I liked their effect more than straight black and white. The image above, taken in Frith Wood, near Stroud, has a hint of sepia.

One important lesson I learned was that it was pointless selecting the camera’s own monochrome settings if shooting in RAW format. Once the image is imported into Adobe Bridge and opened in Adobe Raw Converter it appears in full colour. The camera’s monochrome effect is applied after the shot has been taken and the colour information already stored.

I also took my shots with the aperture too wide open, making focusing awkward. Another lesson learned (hopefully) was that in these scenarios it is important to have a small aperture, long shutter speeds and the camera on a tripod - otherwise you risk wasting a lot of shots. Oh, and to meter for the light.