Wood Ducks (Four Photographs) and More on Black and White

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Someone is bound to say that wood ducks are colorful and should be seen in color, so I left the color version in the post. In the days of film when shooting B&W, photographers would put color filters in front of their lenses to affect how color contrast showed up on film, For example, if you wanted a dark sky you placed a red filter on the camera and the sky would turn darker. In B&W conversion software we have the same ability to apply color software filters (only now because you can see the effect we do not have to memorize what each filter does). So in the first B&W shot  a yellow filter brightened the background and in the second,I used an orange filter that highlighted the eyes and beak . In my experience experimenting with these filters as a starting point is the most important step in the conversion to B&W. That we can apply filters in post may or may not be an improvement over the days of film, but it certainly makes digital B&W very versatile.