Staying near home and looking for inspiration in my own yard.  When the magnolia blooms each year I think I should get out there and take some photos when it's at it's peak.  I usually miss the perfect moment because of jobs and other obligations that pull me away.  This year, like most of you, I've got time on my hands.

magnolia3.30.20_028bw magnolia3.30.20_028c Magnolias have such a nice tonal range, I knew they'd make great black and white shots.  It had rained earlier that day, and the rainwater was clinging to the flowers in the afternoon.  When I first started photographing I shot b&w in the camera, just to see how it was going to look, but then I switched to shooting color in camera. If you are able to shoot camera raw* files, both the color and b&w information are retained in the file for you to choose in post production.  If you shoot jpegs I would recommend shooting color and converting to b&w in your computer software.  

* A Camera Raw image is an unprocessed photograph captured with a digital camera.  After the photographer processes and manipulates it as desired in computer software, it is usually saved as a Jpeg or Tiff.   

I went into the shoot planning on using these photos as b&w, but there are some that I might prefer in the color version.  Leave a comment, do you prefer black & white or color, and why? magnolia3.30.20_198bw magnolia3.30.20_198c magnolia3.30.20_247bw magnolia3.30.20_247c Shot with a Nikon D850 with Nikon 200-400 f4 VR II Lens with a Gitzo GT2530 Tripod and a Manfrotto MHXPRO-BHQ2 Ball Head.