eye4bw.com
A photo community for Black & White photography
• Recent Additions
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Featured Photographer - andrea de bonis
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• Intro
eye4bw.com
is a community of artists who share the same passion,
Black & White photography. We welcome photographers of all levels
to join and help preserve the timeless art of Black & White.
The absence of color provokes our mind, defines our thoughts and
our emotions are elevated. The spectrum between Black and White
is a subtle and beautiful mystery and with skill, seems infinite.
eye4bw.com is a place for photographers to illustrate their relationship
and communication with life and reality, by displaying their artistic
vision and bringing profound meaning to a subjects existence. Being
a community means sharing knowledge , advice and encouragement as
well as accepting constructive criticism from others.
Featured Photos
 Alberto Botella |
 Edilson Dantas |
 werxj ND |
 Roberto Manetta |
• News & Updates
bw Blog
Photoshop by Erik Neilson
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Avoiding Excessive Use of Photoshop
Photoshop is one of the greatest tools to ever be introduced to the world of photography. With its robust interface and irreplaceable tools, many modern photographers would be lost without it. While the benefits surely outweigh the costs, many photographers rely too heavily on Photoshop for finalizing their work. Just about every commercial photographer these days uses the program to boost their results, but how much is too much?
Purists believe that it doesn't take much at all. In its heyday, black and white photography was all about the personal touch - everyone's prints looked different depending upon their individual style. The tools and tricks of analog manipulation were more art than science, and interesting results relied not on computer algorithms but instead on experimentation and the careful use of the human hand. While many photographers still use these techniques to this day, Photoshop and other types of augmentation software have all but replaced traditional techniques.
To be fair, the program is incredibly versatile. Most of the time, a raw image needs a little help to reach the point of being all that it can be, and Photoshop is a user-friendly, versatile program that can more than do the job. Some of the most beautiful printed images in photography have been subject to various degrees of alteration via Photoshop, and to great effect. The problem arises when photographers use Photoshop not to enhance their work but instead to cover\ flaws and make up for isn't there. When used as security, Photoshop can be a dangerous tool.
We've all been witness to prints that have been so overly "Photoshopped" that they look more like cartoons than photos, and no one wants to claim ownership to these prints. Yet, so many people are victim to the same crime, whether they want to admit it or not. Anyone who is concerned with the quality of their works has likely used Photoshop as a band-aid, and more often than not this results in ruining the photograph altogether. Photoshop is a great enhancement tool, but it is not a magic solution to an already dead photograph.
So next time you fire up Photoshop and start playing around with your images, remember that restraint will yield quality results. Overusing Photoshop is like putting on way too much makeup; do what you can to avoid it at all costs.
Members Bio - Dariusz Klimczak
"Color sometimes diverts attention from the substance of pictures, theme or anecdote. If the photo is not protected in black and white, color certainly didn't defend."
Born in a Polish village near the Baltic Sea, Dariusz started his photographic journey at age 13 with a Zenith and has had a camera with him ever since. This year he is planning to release two albums of his own work.
" My photography is specific. I carry a camera everywhere, even if there is no light, because I never know what I will find along the way. It happens that I take pictures every day. "
Dariusz has been photographing for over 30 years, a Canon EOS 450D is his companion at present. Recently he had shows in his native Poland, and in Egypt, and is readying for a show in his home village on the gray baltic.
"I like juicy BW, with a large tonal range, while working I try to squeeze as much as possible from the file, but that the end result looks natural "
Dariusz blends the somber steppe and Baltic harshness with the whimsy depth of the Polish soul. Stilts elevate the figures that walked out, ages ago, from a mirror in which Dali looked, and zen like landscapes that morph into sensitivity of the eye draw the viewer, almost like looking at sand and finding amber. Music, nature, his daughter Nina, Dariush finds inspiration in these, and in the tonality of sea and shades, and adds a faint scent of the slow rhythms by Gorecki, like the thawing of winter.
by Osvaldo Menegol
• Meet our members (view all)
 Barbara Corvino |  Arek Rudyk |  Lucas Seven |  Marc Thomas |  Leo van den Hooven |  Shariff Fudin |  andrea de bonis |  David Hixon |
