So, I got this idea stuck in my head the other day, you know? Black and white family photos. Not the fancy studio kind, just our regular snaps, but different. Seemed like a cool little project to try out.
Getting the Ball Rolling
First thing, I had to actually find the photos. Spent a good hour digging through folders on my computer and even dusted off an old hard drive. Found a bunch, mostly just everyday stuff, birthdays, holidays, messing around in the garden. Nothing too posed, which I figured would be better for this kind of look.
I didn’t want anything complicated. Just simple black and white. Thought it might give the pictures a bit more… feeling? I don’t know, maybe make you focus on the people more, not the background clutter.
The Messy Middle Part
Okay, so I got a bunch of pictures together. Maybe about 20 or 30 to start with. Dumped them into a new folder. Then came the converting part.
- Tried using the basic photo editor that comes with the computer first. Hit the black and white button. Meh. It was okay, but a bit flat. Everything looked kinda grey.
- Then I remembered some free online tool someone mentioned. Uploaded a few. It was better, had more options for contrast and stuff. But honestly, it felt like too much clicking for each picture. Plus, who knows where those photos really go online, right? Made me a bit uneasy.
- Finally, I dug up an older version of some photo software I bought years ago. Barely used it, thought I’d give it a shot. It had a decent black and white conversion thingy. Took a bit of fiddling, sliding bars around for brightness and contrast, trying different filter presets they had. Some looked awful, really harsh. Others were pretty good.
Spent most of an afternoon just messing with sliders. Found that bumping up the contrast a little bit usually worked best, made the whites pop and the blacks deeper. Didn’t go crazy with it, though. Still wanted them to look like actual photos, not some artsy experiment gone wrong.
Seeing How It Looked
Once I had a batch I was happy with, maybe 15 or so, I printed a few out on regular paper just to see. It was… interesting. Really different vibe. Some photos looked way better, more emotional somehow. Others, well, the color was actually hiding how messy the background was, haha. Black and white really showed the clutter in one or two!
I picked out my favorites, the ones that really worked. Put them together in a simple slideshow on the computer. Called the family over to have a look. They were surprised. My wife really liked them, said it felt nostalgic. The kids thought it was weird at first, asking where the colors went, but then they started pointing out different things they hadn’t noticed before in the pictures.
Overall, pretty happy with how it turned out. Didn’t take amazing skill, just a bit of time and messing around. It’s a nice little collection now, feels a bit special compared to the thousands of color snaps we have on our phones. Might do some more when I get the chance.
