Colour monochrome...

When conditions or subject allow, I often shoot a subject with the intention of converting the image to monochrome once uploaded to the computer. For all intents and purposes this means removing the colour and rendering the finished photograph in tones ranging from black; through various shades of grey; to white. But a similar effect can be achieved with only one predominant colour: In this case a blue-grey tone.

The colour of the sea is usually determined by the sky above it, so it is only the lighter tones of the sandy beach at Boscombe, Dorset, that differs in hue to the rest of the composition. I allowed the wooden groyne to record as a silhouette to provide the darkest tone; the watery autumn sun and its reflection, the lightest. I underexposed by over a stop from the suggested meter reading to achieve the result I was after.

18-35mm f/3.5 - 4.5D Nikkor. 1/2000 second at f/10. -1.33 EV compensation. ISO 400

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