I am not a black and white photographer, but every once in a while I'm inspired by truly great b & w shooters (like clients of mine, Tom and Marj Green) and then I go through a phase of producing monochromatic images that force me to think differently about photography. I originally shot this bristlecone pine tree in the White Mountains of California with color transparency film background in the 80's. The elevation here is about 10,000 to 11,000 feet. The sky was solid blue, and the twisted tree was a warm wood color. It's one of the oldest trees in existence, and I was always drawn to its rugged graphic design. I scanned the 6x7cm transparency with a high end Imacon scanner, and then in Photoshop converted it to black and white. Using the sliders in Image > adjustments > black and white, I tweaked the contrast until I liked the visual impact. I took the shot on Fujichrome Velvia 50, and although my settings were unrecorded, knowing how I used to shoot they were probably 1/30 and f/32.
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