8 March 2017 | Monochrome PDI competition 2

This week’s monochrome PDI competition was presided over by Paul Graber from the Guildford Photographic Society. Once again, it brought together another solid range of entrants from the club at both beginner and intermediate level.

Paul was able to draw from his experience as a monochrome enthusiast to give constructive feedback on the images shown this week, which effectively boiled down to the following comments:

• Texture in monochrome photography is essential where the colour has been removed
• It’s not enough to merely desaturate the images – you need to add contrast and structure, sharpness and clarity to make them stand out, or “pop”
• Monochrome images can be processed much harder than colour images – don’t be afraid to play with the sliders!
•  If you’re going to make a photo monochrome, you need to make sure that the processing actively improves the image
• Skies in monochrome image need drama in the absence of colours
•  As in all photography, leading lines work well, drawing the eyes down a path, or across a pattern in the sky, into the centre of the image
• Symmetry has to be spot on to work – otherwise it jars!

Congratulations this week go to Ronnie for his image of the roof of the Whiteleys – an example of how Symmetry can be used to devastating effect:

And to Mandy for her shot, entitled A break in the clouds: