Reimagining a Forest Walk in Black and White
I’ve recently been going over some old photographs and trying out some new treatments on them. A few years ago, while on a trip to Germany, we were staying on the outskirts of Darmstadt, and right near where our hotel was located, was a fairly large forest. I had taken lots of photos there at the time but I was never really happy with them.
A little while ago, while testing out some software, I was using the files from that trip, I tried a black and white treatment on them, almost as an after thought. I really liked the result. It’s probably not your typical type of look for landscape imagery, but for some reason, the high contrast film effect just kind of works with these photos. I added the white edge as an extra layer, and it seems to have paid off, at least in my opinion.
These were originally shot on my Fujifilm X-Pro 2 (may it rest in peace) and the 18-55mm lens. I processed these in DXO Photolab when I was trying out the new Fujifilm support, and I had used one of the film presets from DXO film pack. I think I like these so much because the high contrast look really ads impact and drama to what was previously a fairly ordinary forest scene.
Like I said I was never happy with these. I mean, they were ok, but I just always thought that they could be more.
In a way, this captures more the feel of the forest from when I was there. The forest started as a fairly innocuous gate just past where our hotel was, and as we entered, the long avenues of tall trees, the sound of the forest took over. Or rather the lack of sound. There was some nature but it was mostly quiet, apart from the odd jogger and hiker. Ever since then I had a vision of the place, but it was one my original photographs had not captured properly at all. There was a majesty and drama to it, and now, It think they finally convey what I had in my head when I was there.
To see the images properly, click on them to view in the Lightbox. The white frame effect works best against a darker background, and you can see this by clicking on them to use the Lightbox.
