I’m so pleased to be part of Leanne Cole’s (http://leannecolephotography.com/) Black and White Challenge on Tuesdays. Thank you, Leanne, for coordinating this! I’m not sure hers is up quite yet….I think I usually end up posting this first. I’ve sent her the link to include with her own image, so hopefully it will be up soon!
Today’s post shows a building in San Francisco that I originally took around Christmas time. First, I converted this image three different times in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 (neutral, high key and low key) and layered them in Photoshop. Next, I masked them to expose and hide what I wanted and then burned/dodged here and there to hopefully create a pleasing image. (Thank you to Mabry Campbell http://mabrycampbell.com/ for giving me this B&W processing suggestion back when I created my “Trees in the Fog” image.) I’ve gotta say…Leanne & Mabry, you two ROCK!
Scraping the Sky in B&W
Laura Macky Photography 
March 4, 2014 at 6:50 am
Very nice technique Laura. The image is awesome. Bravo!
March 4, 2014 at 6:55 am
Thank you! 🙂
March 4, 2014 at 7:15 am
101 California… I was in that building the day Luigi Ferri did what he did in that building… Now it’s just a memory…
March 4, 2014 at 7:19 am
Amazing! I love it when the locals come out. i was there when it wasn’t even a building! lol I started working downtown in the summers when I was 16. Thanks for sharing that.
March 4, 2014 at 7:24 am
The police swat teams kept us on an upper floor until they figured out he was a lone gunman.. They could not rent those two floors until they removed the staircase between those two floors.. I remember I stayed in the phone room for hours talking to my then wife. She was watching the news and kept me informed.
March 4, 2014 at 7:26 am
Ugh scary stuff!! When I was I think 19, I was in 245 Market and someone jumped from I think it was One Market but I’m not sure, but my office faced the side of the building. i remember the SF CHronicle put the guy falling on the front page and was chastized (as they should’ve been) from putting that on the front page. I couldn’t watch.
March 4, 2014 at 7:26 am
oops make that 215 market
March 4, 2014 at 7:20 am
btw that must’ve been scary! i was working across the street and I was scared!
March 4, 2014 at 7:30 am
I love b/w photography. Very well done Laura.
March 4, 2014 at 7:34 am
Thank you so much. 🙂
March 4, 2014 at 7:56 am
A brilliant photo… I’m not one too partial to B&W, but this makes me rethink my thinking…
March 4, 2014 at 7:57 am
That is such an awesome compliment. Thank you! I’m kind of enjoying how it’s getting me to see light in a different way.
March 4, 2014 at 8:14 am
This is very strange with the dark reflections and sky – Noir! I also like how the lighted window contrast with the dark reflective surface.
March 4, 2014 at 8:16 am
Thank you! It was fun creating it.
March 4, 2014 at 8:21 am
Well composed and captured. Lovely b&w effect!
March 4, 2014 at 8:23 am
Thank you Ravi!
March 4, 2014 at 9:00 am
Excellent Laura, MM 🍀
March 4, 2014 at 9:18 am
Thank you MM 😀
March 4, 2014 at 9:40 am
Great job with this – I am however very partial to architectural abstracts in the first place. I’m glad you gave insight into how you achieved this – Many of my shots have layers galore in their original PSD files to get to the point where I’m happy with the results. Thanks again for the B&W challenge – this is a good image to have in that gallery.
March 4, 2014 at 9:44 am
Thank you so much! I love to learn new things to hopefully improve how I imagine things in my mind. Making that connection is rewarding.
March 4, 2014 at 10:13 am
I am super glad that this challenge is going on too! I love to see you and Leanne’s inspiring work. I absolutely love the pattern in the image, how the reflection, windows, and columns all seem to align perfectly. Looking forward to next Tuesday!
March 4, 2014 at 10:48 am
Interesting technique. As I only use Lightroom, I’ve never used layers.
March 4, 2014 at 10:53 am
Interesting yourself! I use adobe camera raw then upload into photoshop and proceed from there.
March 4, 2014 at 11:54 am
I might have to try some of those techniques. You have a gift for black and white and I think you should explore it a lot more Laura.
March 4, 2014 at 1:02 pm
Thank you so much! I do enjoy it.
March 4, 2014 at 1:20 pm
Nice shot Laura! 🙂
March 4, 2014 at 1:23 pm
Thank you! 🙂
March 4, 2014 at 2:45 pm
Laura, your photography is brilliant. I am following you!!! Love, Amy
March 4, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Awwe…well thank you so much! I appreciate it.
March 4, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Great shot Laura I really like that you explained your technique
March 4, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Thank you and I’m glad you did. 🙂
March 4, 2014 at 4:51 pm
a modern edific
March 4, 2014 at 5:17 pm
It is!
March 4, 2014 at 10:14 pm
so dramatic and beautiful reflections 🙂
March 5, 2014 at 7:10 am
Thank you Joshi!
March 5, 2014 at 1:44 pm
Beautiful image. Well done. I enjoy reading how you accomplished this. I love black and white but am finding that not all images look best that way. This one is gorgeous. I love it. Did I say that already?
March 5, 2014 at 1:46 pm
I’m not sure I quite heard you lol. Can you say it again? hahahahaha Just kidding. But I am glad you liked it!
March 7, 2014 at 6:52 am
Great image and a very sound Photoshop processing method. Have you tried taking three bracketed shots and then processing in HDR software such as Photomatix? Ideally you should use a tripod but handheld (with rapid fire shooting) works most of the time as the software re-aligns the images.
March 7, 2014 at 6:58 am
Yes I’ve done that too. I have several shots I did doing just that on my smugmug site. Sometimes I only have one image though 😦 Thank you for that also sound processing method!
March 9, 2014 at 9:29 am
This is an awesome shot. It’s such a great angle! Reminds me of some of the professional theater captures out of a surreal Super Hero Movie… Batman..
I’m not sure if that was the effect you intended, though I’m suffering #ThunderBrain at the moment.. lol
It’s a very ‘grand’ picture, foreboding and powerful. #LoveIt
March 9, 2014 at 9:31 am
Yes it was kind of dark and gloomy and I did think of the Batman movie when I was processing it, so I guess I got my point across! Thanks ML! 😀
March 9, 2014 at 9:33 am
YW 🙂
March 9, 2014 at 6:40 pm
🙂
March 26, 2014 at 8:31 pm
THAT is a beautiful photograph!
March 26, 2014 at 8:47 pm
Thank you!