Picture This

Our Picture This! assignment this month was “Monochrome Tone,” images made with black-and-white film or converted into black and white using a variety of routes, from in camera digital conversion to software programs for creating everything from toned to neutral black-and-white images. While we sought monochrome with a bit of color tone, we did not limit submissions to just sepia, blue, or an emulation of selenium toner, but included neutral but rich black-and-white images as well. The submissions sent in by readers covered the gamut, drawing upon old processes in new ways and using grayscale inkjet palettes to create dazzling black-and-white prints.

Sunken Boat

Henry O’Steen shot a bracketed exposure with his Canon EOS 5D and then combined the HDR image in Photoshop and added a warm brown tone to enhance the mood and textures of his image. © 2009, Henry O’Steen, All Rights Reserved

Gettysburg

Paul W. Faust made this evocative image at the Gettysburg Battlefield with an IR-converted Nikon D70 and then toned it using Photoshop CS4. © 2009, Paul W. Faust, All Rights Reserved

Let’s Play Ball

Raymond Emery shows us all why shooting medium format film and then scanning it is a great way to create striking images and get the best of both worlds. He shot with a Praktisix 21⁄4 camera and a Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/2.8 Biometar lens on Kodak Plus-X developed in Acufine, then scanned it with an Epson 4990 and printed it on a Canon PIXMA Pro9000 with a warm-tone grayscale on Canon Fine Art Photo Rag paper. © 2009, Raymond Emery, All Rights Reserved

Shopping Carts

Edward Wixler captured this pattern and design in Venice, Florida, with a Nikon E8800 camera and added the cool tone in Photoshop CS2. © 2009, Edward Wixler, All Rights Reserved

Old Barn After A Storm

Irwin H. Segel photographed this barn in Davis, California, with a Nikon D200 and a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens with an exposure of f/11 at 1⁄250 sec. He processed the image using a Photoshop Duotone Action. © 2009, Irwin H. Segel, All Rights Reserved

Frisco ’08

Is that 1908 or 2008? The tone, grain, and texture of this shot of Hyde Street Pier by Mick Klass evokes a timeless feeling. He photographed with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 DX lens with an exposure of f/8 at 1⁄500 sec at ISO 320, and added mood and tone in processing later. © 2008, Mick Klass, All Rights Reserved

Amaryllis

Paul T. Carrigan used two Speedotron heads and a reflector with a Nikon D200 and a 105mm f/2.8 macro lens to capture this glowing image, and added a touch of blue mood in Photoshop CS3. © 2009, Paul T. Carrigan, All Rights Reserved

Tree In Fog

Howard Grill caught the light and design of this image with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and a Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS lens with an exposure, at ISO 100, of f/8 at 1⁄640 sec. He added the red tone to the monochrome-converted image in Photoshop. © 2009, Howard Grill, All Rights Reserved

Lost Art

Bill Boswell created a monochrome image of strength and purpose that also evokes the tonality of the best black-and-white silver paper bathed in a mild dilution of selenium toner. He photographed with a Nikon D2X and a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens with an exposure of f/2.8 at 1⁄30 sec. © 2009, Bill Boswell, All Rights Reserved

Park Scene

The mood and mists of morning are enhanced by the blue tone created by Mike Zale using Adobe’s Lightroom 2. He photographed with an Olympus OM-2 and a 50mm lens on Tri-X 400 film, then scanned the image to do his Lightroom magic. © 2009, Mike Zale, All Rights Reserved

Old Wardour Castle #4

Jack Challem set his Leica D-LUX 3 to the “sepia” setting for this rainy day shot of these 15th century castle ruins. Exposure at ISO 100 was f/3.2 at 1⁄60 sec. © 2009, Jack Challem, All Rights Reserved

Casino Cab Stand

The harsh contrast, circles, and vanishing points, along with the selected tonally different signs, add a surreal sense to this scene outside a North Las Vegas casino. Jan Wolyniak made this image with a Kodak Z1015 at ISO 200 with an exposure of f/3.5 at 1⁄30 sec. © 2009, Jan Wolyniak, All Rights Reserved

Emile Creek

Franklin O. Pratt caught this image filled with texture, tone, and visual intensity. He photographed with a Nikon D80 and a Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G DX lens. © 2009, Franklin O. Pratt, All Rights Reserved

Flower

This photo by Phil Burgess evokes the look and tone of images made in photography’s early days. His original was made with a Nikon D70 and a Nikkor 28-105mm lens. © 2009, Phil Burgess, All Rights Reserved

Moonrise Over Bryce

Gary W. Potts converted this shot of moonrise just after dusk at Bryce with a duotone blue shade. Original exposure with a Nikon D300 and a Sigma 18-200mm lens with a 4x split ND filter at ISO 400 was f/16 at 8 seconds. © 2009, Gary W. Potts, All Rights Reserved