It's time for us to pick the winners of our July "Black and White" photo contest! Vote in the poll above from your favorite among the photos below. Good luck and congratulations to our finalists!

#1.


#2.


#3.


#4.


#5.


#6.


#7.


#8.


#9.


#10.


#11.


#12.


#13.


#14.


#15.

[JimmyDranox]

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15, are winners of this contest, at least in my view. Congrats to all.

[gor80]

#3 all photo very good!!!

[pomabille]

Tough one. Good job everyone!

[Tybereus1490]

I vote for number:7

---------- Post added 08-17-14 at 12:12 PM ----------

But they all look awesome

[CWS]

What a pleasure to view all of these wonderful shots. Very tough to pick just one. I think they are all winners.

[imouse]

I vote for number 4

Jay

[TomTom]

If I notice, for of such and similar "competition", the photos should not you have any information about the author (watermark and similar personal data) !!
Such photos lead other authors in the unequal legal status! I know that a large number of colleagues, will not agree with my opinion !! In international competitions such photos are automatically eliminated!
Have a good day,
Velja

Seconded.

[Tonytee]

I have to admit it is difficult to choose only one jewel in the crown. I had to go with what moved me the most. I chose the wind generators, just because I believe it is the best work. I came close to choosing #13, however I thought better of choosing a pic just because there is a cat in the wheelhouse of an abandoned boat. I like cats, and it is a quality photo as is all of them, however, I felt that the subject should remain abandoned and it would have made for a more interesting shoot. Congratulations to everyone who participated.

Tony

[sophie100]

Normally I wouldn't vote in a poll like this; there's not normally a clear winner.

This time, to my eye, there is, and I'm happy to cast my vote.

I used to do nothing but black and white. There's something about the challenge that really does seem to bring the best out in photographers. These are all superb - well, nearly all. And one that really did it for me.

William

[ausmoose]

Really amazing work everyone. You all set a great example for the rest of the Pentax community! I find B&Ws extremely tough, so maybe I'll learn something from all your great photos. It's very hard to choose a winner amongst these awesome photos, but I think I've chosen my winner. Though any of them deserve to win IMO.

[5axian]

There is no way to find out a winner among 15 great photos. Please rating it down to 4-5, a more manageable number, when you can assess the difference more consciously. #7 and #14 so far.

[philg]

I`m not sure were to start,what an amazing collection of B&W photos.

[sophie100]

Really amazing work everyone. You all set a great example for the rest of the Pentax community! I find B&Ws extremely tough, so maybe I'll learn something from all your great photos. It's very hard to choose a winner amongst these awesome photos, but I think I've chosen my winner. Though any of them deserve to win IMO.

In the days when I did film photography - and had my own darkroom - I did nothing but black & white. Without the benefit - or distraction, depends on how you look at it - of colour, everything comes down to line and shading. There's something almost abstract about B&W. Since the world is always in colour, a B&W photo is never going to look like the subject originally photographed. You have to see the form and line of a scene, or person etc. in a quite different way. And with film, of course, you have the grain as well.

I chose number 14. I love the stark simplicity of it; and yet it takes a remarkable eye to see the possibilities of it - and distinct skill to obtain just the right balance against the setting sun. With colour there would be a temptation to balance out the light and shade to give due importance to the foreground. Here, everything is, quite literally, black and white, with the sky holding the balance between the two.

Wishing you well,


William

[NigelP]

For me it has to be something that wouldn't work in colour - something where the processing to black & white makes the picture.

[Matthew]

If I notice, for of such and similar "competition", the photos should not you have any information about the author (watermark and similar personal data) !!
Such photos lead other authors in the unequal legal status! I know that a large number of colleagues, will not agree with my opinion !

I agree and I thought there used to be a rule for these competitions that no identifying marks were to be present.
I never vote for entries with artist ID on the image.

---------- Post added 08-18-2014 at 09:07 AM ----------

The images here are all fantastic but I can't see any of the ones I liked from the commenting stage.
Actually, I think there are a number of images I am seeing here for the first time.