Some B&W photos of the old centre of Alkmaar (Netherlands)

[Ad Schaafsma]

 

[JimFox]

Welcome again Ad!

Your work here is going to inspire me to do more B&W images.

I think B&W really fits the old world nature of that area. I look forward to seeing your part of your world through your eyes.

 

[AlanLichty]

I like both of these views - nicely done B&W conversions. I am looking forward to more images from this part of the world.

 

[Ad Schaafsma]

Nothing Dutch without a bicycle, a windmill, tulips and wooden shoes (ok, we have ASML as well).

Just for those of you into hunting windmills, this is also from Alkmaar. Just ran the RAW image through Silky Pix to 'hard monochrome'.

I like the combo Panasonic & Silky Pix for B&W. It's no Leica Q2 Monochrome, but close maybe? Gotta go searching for tulips and wooden shoes ('klompen') though.

 

[AlanLichty]

I like the light balance you are getting with your B&W techniques. Feels less strained than some of the efforts I often see. I love the windmill.

 

[Ad Schaafsma]

I'm trying not to overdo my editing. Having said that... you may want to give your honest opinion on this one. I'm not really happy with the small house roof against the white-out sky. But there wasn't much to salvage in the RAW file.

 

[AlanLichty]

The house against the sky looks like a very difficult edit. Short of blending two exposures (one for the foreground walls and one for the pathway and the house) this is a seriously wide dynamic range to span. Pretty respectable result with this image under the circumstances.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Welcome to Focal World. Great first post

 

[JimFox]

Nothing Dutch without a bicycle, a windmill, tulips and wooden shoes (ok, we have ASML as well).

Just for those of you into hunting windmills, this is also from Alkmaar. Just ran the RAW image through Silky Pix to 'hard monochrome'.

I like the combo Panasonic & Silky Pix for B&W. It's no Leica Q2 Monochrome, but close maybe? Gotta go searching for tulips and wooden shoes ('klompen') though.

View attachment 58213

I like those windmills! I do a lot of night time Milky Way photography, and one of my dreams would be to capture these windmills with a Milky Way behind it or arching over it.

 

[JimFox]

I'm trying not to overdo my editing. Having said that... you may want to give your honest opinion on this one. I'm not really happy with the small house roof against the white-out sky. But there wasn't much to salvage in the RAW file.

View attachment 58214

I like this hard contrast Ad! It's a style I like to view, but have the hardest type doing. I think because I have getting max dynamic range for my landscapes, that to limit it like this goes against my nature. But I really want to do that.

I do agree that it would be nice if that house had a more distinct line against the sky. But it still looks really nice. Maybe use a layer mask along the top edge of the roof and darken just that area slightly?

 

[Ad Schaafsma]

Well, couldn't do much with the air. Besides, Photoshop and I... I don't even have it (Elements only). But I tried in Elements, and taking the highlights down made it better - I think.

 

[AlanLichty]

That's quite the improvement Ad - the darks are less blocky and the distinction between the house and the sky stands out well.

 

[Ad Schaafsma]

That's quite the improvement Ad - the darks are less blocky and the distinction between the house and the sky stands out well.

Yes! I thought so too. And there's more detail visible.

 

[Dan Moorehead]

Wonderful