Trying out the power of Black & White

Should you process some of your images in black & white?
I thought tonight I would have a look at experimenting with black and white.  I normally love colours and could not imagine using anything else.  I thought I would re-process some images and have a look with an open mind to see if they appealed to me.  After a bit of playing I found that for me some birds in flight the images became more effective and dramatic.

Female Peregrine

I think this image of a  Peregrine Falcon is more effective than its full colour counterpart.
Perhaps some dramatic menacing clouds would have improved things.

On the hunt!

This Short Eared Owl hunting over the Cotswold Grassland seems to stand out distinctly from its background. It's so simple on photoshop with just a few clicks and you can save a different version of your image that gives a new perspective.
Generally I think I would stick to the naturalness of full colour, but perhaps when some dramatic clouds are captured in the image I may have a go again.
Its as simple as :Enhance/Convert to Black & White and then save an alternative copy.
Its great though to do something different!

November 2019 Migrant Blackbirds massing on my berries

It is not always understood that lots of blackbirds migrate to the UK from Scandinavia.  On a rowan tree at the back of my garden there are about five or six males and a female all vying for position.  This is far more than would be resident around our small area.

Selecting a juicy ripe one

I quite like their dark colours contrasting with the bright red berries from a photography point of view.

They get greedy for them

They have evolved to be very flexible in their diet and feed on mainly worms in the summer months.  Come the winter months when "needs must" they readily switch to a berry diet.  I suppose it is this flexibility that contributes to them being such a common bird.

Disappearing fast!

They always seem to take them from the top down.  I guess they must ripen in this order.  I always hope that there will be some left for the visiting Redwings or even a few Waxwings.
Not this year though as they will all be gone in the next few days!

November 2019 Great Grey Shrike in the Forest of Dean

I had a short trip to the Forest of Dean today.  This is definitely one of my favourite places as you never know what may turn up.  I had heard reports of a Great Grey Shrike being sighted so I thought I would check it out.

Great Grey Shrike

These are great birds to see and mainly like to sit high up watching for likely prey targets to show themselves.

On the look out!

A lovely morning and met a lot of interesting people.  Everyone seems to have their own ideas of how the forest should be managed!