Black and White - A few early attempts

I've not really attempted much in the way of black of white photography especially not dogs.

Here's a few that I've got in photobucket just now. Not much thought has gone into composition but I'd welcome any tips based on what you see especially when it comes to getting contrast. At college i was always taught to 'forget colour' when shooting in b&w and to look for scenes that had contrast but despite this mine always end up grey and bland.

Cheers

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These three aren't B&W but still fit into the same catergory of trying to use the bright sun and dark shadow to get contrast off an all black dog.

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Love the 2nd one mate, she looks to be enjoying that sunbeam

The top one is THE best IMHO ....the composition and light is fantastic Even the fact that it is slightly blurred doesn't detract but add to the overall feel

JMO

Lovely pics I love the second one, there is just something about sunlight shining onto dogs.

I love the top photograph - IMO the slight blurring gives it an artistic feel. I think that would look lovely on a canvas

They're great Phil, the first one is pure class! And I agree with GH - get it sorted!

Thanks guys - I've still got the original somewhere which is a lot sharper.

I did 'soften' this one up a lot - perhaps too much ?????????

Although in this day and age with the current craze for 'mega pixels' we get hung up on 'ultra sharp' images but sometimes I think certain pics are better 'soft'. I thought the sleepy / dreamy feel of this scene was better suited to a really soft pic than a sharp one.

It was also my first real attempt at using the 'burn tool'. Not subtle - I really 'darkened out' the edges of the picture - see the 4 corners and Hannah's feet. Part of the reason for burning out her feet was they went out of the frame. By burning them gradually out - they don't look like they've been chopped off LOL.

My fave is no 6. I love the way the eye and muzzle are highlighted. Id happily have an image like that on my wall.

Thanks - need to crop some off the bottom but I like it to. I'd like to find out how to exagerate the eye colour just on it's own.

Great pics Phil