I used a still life subject as the first experiment with black and white comprising the ingredients for apple chutney: a bramley apple, some shallots and dried apricots. I was hoping that the different textures of the shiny apple, the dry skin of the shallots and the wrinkled apricots would catch the light. I placed the items on a table by a window and adjusted the window blind so that just a narrow band of light fell on the subject. I used some kitchen foil to reflect some light on the shaded side of the subject, experimenting with various positions.
I took a variety of photographs with the apple in different positions and a second series where the apple was cut in half to reveal the light colored interior.
I selected photographs of four of the variants and converted these into black and white in Photoshop Elements, using the Convert to Black and White dialog in "Enhance" menu. The dialog has a number of presets: Infra red, portrait, newspaper, scenic landscape, cityscape etc. In the first instance I rotated through these to get an idea of the impact on my photographs. I tried adjusting the sliders from the preset positions, but I did not feel I had improved the results from the preset versions.
The four images I selected were as follows:
Image 1: Landscape with apple in the centre
I chose "newspaper" setting which gave the apple an almost metallic shine.
Image 2: Portrait with apple
I used a vertical frame for this version due to the confines of the plate that I was using. Again, I used the "newspaper" conversion setting which adds lustre to the apple.
Image 3: Vertical frame with half apple on left side
I thought that the light colored cut apple would create a stronger contrast with the mid tones of the shallots than the green skin of the whole apple. The strong contrast might be better for a black and white image. However, the shade on the dark side of the apple means the solid form of the apple is less distinct. I used "scenic landscape" setting to convert to black and white. The "newspaper" setting blew out the cut face of the apple. More importantly, the composition is rather dull. I think this is due to the central position of the apple and the fact that the cut face is parallel to the side of the frame.
Image 4: Portrait frame with cut apple on upper left.
This was also converted to black and white using the "scenic landscape" preset. The green and red adjustments are relatively similar in the adjustments. I chose this as it accentuated the green skin of the apple. This composition is far better even though the cut face of the apple is also parallel to the side of the frame.
Reviewing the four images, I would choose image 1 for two reasons:
- the apple is placed at an angle which accentuates its shape
- I like the skin tones of the shape of the apple.
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