© Gunther Deichmann, Santorini, Greece 2005

You all know how much I love color and contrast! I am very much of a color person, however when you return from a trip like Cambodia, or be more specific Siam Reap and Angkor Wat, you start to think when you look at your images.
All my editing and adjustments are done using Aperture, and after my last trip during the final editing, I thought well, some of these ancient temples and ruins lead themselves more to Black and White.
With Aperture you can try and find the right combination very easy.
OK here we go:
Once you have your Raw files imported you just highlight the image you think could look good in BW, then you go to the adjustment panel click on the one with the + sign and now another panel opens up which contains the Monochrome Mixer, click on that one and there you go BW, but it gets a lot better than this, you have the options just like in the old days with film to experiment with different filters like red, orange, yellow, green and blue, every-time you click on one of these filters the image is changing, now it is up to you what you like best, there are so many more other adjustments you can choose from, this is just a quick way for you to see if the image looks better in Black and White, maybe you like Sepia, it is in the same adjustment panel, again the choice is yours.

I am a color Photographer but I found that some of the images from these ancient ruins look real great if not better in BW, so if you using Aperture give it a try and see what happens, it is so easy but the best part is if you dont like the changes you made your original is all out there in its colorful glory, Aperture never touches your Original. Last but not least, if you like to compare the two images, BW with the color one, then just hit the letter "M" on your keyboard, toggle on and of and see the difference. Please see below some images from the last trip, converted into Black and White, for more images (sorry all in color) please go to my website at: www.deichmann-photo.com
Until next time,
GD

I have marked the area with a red circle and the little marked red + is where
you find all your BW tools, top right hand side on the Adjustment panel.






© Gunther Deichmann, all BW images above, Cambodia 2007