First, a big Thank You to turbo and his silhouette challenge. I think most everyone had fun and enjoyed it.

I know some of you will love the new challenge, and some of you will cringe. Sorry about that. But I must remind you that before there was color, there was black and white. (See The Wizard of Oz for proof certain.)

Okay, the rules are simple. New shots....... not from the archives. After all, the challenge is here to help us to be better photographers, not to see if we can rummage through a box of old prints to find a scanable picture taken twenty years ago at Aunt Matilda's birthday party that seems to fit the current theme. If you have an image taken previously that fits the theme, go out and reshoot it as I did the clump birch shot below. So please be honest and take shots while keeping in mind composition - for example the rule of thirds. Keep in mind contrast - show us some darks and lights in your images. Keep in mind depth of field (DOF) - sometimes long, sometimes short. If your camera has internal filters for B&W, experiment with them to see how a YELLOW filter affects the contrast of a blue sky with clouds. How ORANGE is useful in shooting telephoto shots at distances. How RED can dramatically provide the darkest sky tones and brightest clouds. How GREEN can improve skin tones and bring out facial expressions of portraits. Here are a few examples of B&W.

White Pine Needles

 Dramatic Sky  

 Clump Birch (Reshoot)

 Crooked Pier

 Rental Boats

 Old Port Washington, WI Courthouse view 1

 Old Port Washington, WI Courthouse view 2   

So now get out, shoot, enjoy and learn. Show us some good new stuff.