We went to Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY on Thursday and I thought I saw a ghost of a civil war soldier in this tree stump.
Soldier in a Tree
Black & White
Black and White from the Past
For most of the pandemic I have been taking courses at F64 Elite by Blake Rudis. April’s challenge is to submit 2 dramatic black and white images for a possible critique. I converted four in my archives, being sure to have some absolute black and white in each, and sent in the first two below. Blake also posts many free tutorials on YouTube. I am also enjoying PixImperfect tutorials by Unmesh Dinda on the YouTube.
Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn 4/29/2012 
High Line 5/8/2016 
Common Starling, Central Park 10/28/2016 
Court Chairs in the Mist 1/1/2000
NYBG B and W
I spent a day in the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY last weekend with the Sierra Photo NY group. We split up and went our own way and met up for lunch and dinner.
This first post in the series of four posts are photographs I either unsaturated parts of or made completely black and white.
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019 
NYBG 11/2/2019
Planting Fields Arboretum B and W
It was such a hot day on Saturday at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Long Island, NY that it subdued my mood. I came with a group of photgraphers and everyone split up, so I spent most of the day alone. I processed these to show how I felt.
For those who like to know. I took the image from Lightroom to Photoshop, applied a black and white filter or converted it to black and white using onOne Effects, then added a brown gradient map with blue in the mid tones in Photoshop. For the lavender and roses I masked out the flowers on an additional violet or pink gradient map.
Old wall, Planting Fields Arboretum, LI, NY 6/29/2019 
Planting Fields Arboretum, LI, NY 6/29/2019 
Planting Fields Arboretum, LI, NY 6/29/2019 
Planting Fields Arboretum, LI, NY 6/29/2019 
Lavender, Planting Fields Arboretum, LI, NY 6/29/2019 
Rose trellis, Planting Fields Arboretum, LI, NY 6/29/2019
Barrett Fountain
This fountain honors children’s book author Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924). The Conservatory Garden, which reopened to the public in 1937, was chosen as the perfect site for this memorial erected by Friends of Burnett. The reclining boy playing the flute and a young girl holding the bowl may represent Mary and Dickon, the main characters in The Secret Garden. The bowl is a functioning birdbath where small birds drink.
Bark Dark
Textures usually work well in black and white. As you may notice, I am still using last week’s files.
Locust Tree, Central Park 5/11/2019 
Tree Trunk, Central Park 5/11/2019
Hibiscus Sketch
It’s been a while since I played with Corel Photo-Paint. I love the sketch effects. Using a combination of effects and layers I am able to adjust things until I am happy with it. This is the same red hibiscus I posted previously reinterpreted.
Black & White Birds – CB and W
There are only a few of my bird photographs that translate well into black and white with some work in Photoshop. This group will be included in the Linnaean Society of New York‘s 2018-2019 Program which I am putting together now for September. I create their website and printed program in B&W — layout not content.
Also for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challange