Let’s start with a problem we encountered looking for monochrome images for the Interclub competition. Hands up those that don’t know how to create them or don’t see the value in monochrome. Well it’s time you learnt some tricks to make good monochrome images. I have a few videos for you to look at.

• The first is from Nathaniel Dodson at TutVid and demonstrates the process in Lightroom – well 3 processes in fact. He covers a landscape, a portrait and an HDR landscape
• Aaron Nace at Phlearn has some more tips that may help you if you use Lightroom too
• Another tool available is the Nik Effex collection (it’s free!) which are plug-ins for Lightroom, Photoshop and Aperture. There are several videos that cover a range of subjects (warning – some are quite long)
  • procedure for portraits
  • landscapes that is very comprehensive
  • enhancing fine art images
  • General Tips and Tricks

So now you have a good B&W photo technique available to you. You’ve got the shot that you feel works. But have you thought what makes it great? Ryan Cooper in fStoppers discusses that idea. Read carefully – there are some things you need to understand and to apply. The biggest one that we miss in camera club land is considering impact and remembering who we are shooting for – ourselves. And that’s what you really need to think about.

I’ve also included my slides from the Peer review night below – all about Trent Parke and examples of his work – lots of what I consider great monochrome images!

Finally – I’ve some monochrome images for you to look at that tell a story about photographer – Philip LePage – and his personal and disturbing journey through mental illness. As a collection they tell a story about his mind. These are not camera club images – and I’ve shared them to make you think about story telling – be it happy, sad or otherwise.