Padlock & Chain

Yesterday's news from the UK is still preying on my mind. It has been difficult to concentrate on anything and I have just flitted from one task to another with little enthusiasm.

I thought about giving blipfoto a miss today but I fear that if I once stop, I will never post again. And to be frank, this particular virtual world has been good for my sense of well-being. The kindness shown by my subscribers has been touching at times. Even more so at this particular juncture.

So I eventually headed out of the house at 4:45pm having missed the sunshine earlier in the day. The light was flat and uninteresting and I figured that I would probably struggle to find anything to photograph.

I fired off a few shots before homing in on this padlock and chain that locks the gate to a derelict industrial property. I believe it was a dairy a long long time ago and it has stood empty for several years.

It may shock some of you to know that the B&W conversion is one I did myself and not the usual high contrast B&W mode of the Ricoh GRD III. I have tried to replicate the results of that scenic mode in Silver Efex Pro but usually failed miserably. Today, and I don't know whether it was because of the subject, my conversion and the high contrast B&W mode shot were almost indistinguishable. I would even go as far as to say my conversion looks better but then I would, wouldn't I? :-)

I think the secret is to reduce the grain per pixel to a fairly low number and also bring it toward the soft end of the scale. Well, it seemed to work on this occasion, so it will be interesting to know if I have finally unlocked the secret.