One of Ansel Adams’ better known images is of the classic San Francisco de Asis Mission Church located in Pueblo de Taos, New Mexico. Everyone who goes to Taos makes a stop at this mission to photograph its intriguing lines and historic shape. The main entrance of the building shown below is a fairly straightforward and famous image and I wanted to be sure to photograph this angle for posterity’s sake.
San Francisco de Asis Mission Church from the main entrance. Nikon D800, 14-24mm f2.8. Converted to Black and White using Tiffen DFx 3.0 and the infrared filter.
After shooting a few frames from the front, I set about to create something that wasn’t as instantly recognizable. I walked around the mission with my Nikon D800 and 14-24mm f2.8, hoping to find a composition that worked well. I finally found the shot I wanted from the back of the building by pushing in very tight and shooting wide angle at 14mm.
San Francisco de Asis Mission Church from the side. I moved in close to the building with my Nikon D800 and Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 to create an abstraction of shape and form. Converted to black and white using Tiffen DFx 3.0 and the infrared filter.
Just attended the D800 workshop. Why not use the camera to process the B&W? I am just now programming mine to train our dog!
I like the flexibility that post processing software provides over the camera B&W conversion. You’ll never get the high quality look you want by converting to B&W in the camera. Programs like Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 or Tiffen DFx 3 work exceedingly well.