Creative Jumpstarts 12

Happy Monday!  And welcome to another fun Creative Jumpstarts!  This week we are back with a PHOTO challenge for you!  We loved seeing your take on our "get low" and "in the distance" photo challenges from the last few months and we know you will love this one too!!  

Our focus on photos this week is black & white.  I'm a big fan of black and white photos and usually find myself gravitating towards them when my photos are grainy or poorer quality, have busy backgrounds or when I take a photo using lamp light or overhead lighting as my main light source. 

Making a photo black & white can help bring out the main focus of the picture, while eliminating contrasting colors and harsh light.  The photo above was taken at night after she hopped into bed to read some books.  Her bedside lamp is on (which is why the photo is blown out on the left hand side).  The lamp light gave the photo a yellow/orangish glow, so turning to the photo to black and white eliminated those harsh colors.  The black and white also helps draw your eye to my daughter, which is always a plus in my book!  :)

I snapped this photo above of my son as he played around on my computer.  I loved being able to capture him leaning on the table just trying his hardest to move the mouse, but the photo had a lot going on in it....lots of colors, lots of objects.  Changing the photo to black & white brought the photo into a more neutral tone and helped bring the main focus to my son.  

I use the RadLab plug-in in Photoshop Elements to change my photos to black & white.  I really like the "Boring B&W" and the "Bitchin' B&W" filters.  They are fast, easy and still keep a good amount of contrast in the photo!  You can't be a one-click photo filter!  

And there you go....our photo challenge for you this month!  Play with your photos, go back through your hard drive and see if changing the photo to black and white helps bring your subject to life!!  If you happen to play along, tag Marcy and myself on Instagram!  We'd love to see your take on this challenge!  Happy snapping! 

Creative Jumpstarts were created by Marcy Penner and Stephanie Bryan to challenge each other with their paper endeavors. Delivered in the form of bimonthly challenges, they encourage us (and hopefully you too) to stretch supplies, think outside of the box and to remain intentional about the memories we capture.  Challenges are posted on the first and third Mondays of every month.  Projects are shared on our blogs and on Instagram using the hashtag #creativejumpstarts. We'd love it if you'd share along with us at either of those places and be sure to tag us (@helloforeverpaperco and @stephaniebryan) if you do!