Over the last couple of years I have become increasingly interested in monochrome edits, I am impressed with how some photographers process their monochromes as I am aware of how hard it is to create a monochromatic masterpiece!

The lack of colour can benefit so many photos, sometimes the colours in a photo aren't particularly special and can make the image appear very dull.  Monochrome doesn't work on brightness though, it relies heavily on contrast as a flat image doesn't flow very well.  The reason a monochrome picture can work better is because it allows the eye to concentrate on detail without the distraction of detail, it requires the photographer to think how it would work and process it how the mind thinks it will look best.

It also creates a very moody atmosphere in some photos where the weather is not so kind.  It is something which can make the worst of original images, look striking and very attractive to the eye.  The problem is that it only works on some images, and it requires a creative eye to exploit everything in that image that does work, you'll know straight away whether it's going to work or not!

I've compiled a gallery of my favourite black and white edits from the last few months, for you to enjoy:-

First of all, incase you're wondering what 'kanes' means, it is a slang word for 'knows' here in Scotland.  This is actually a few weeks late but I've finally got round to putting these up, firstly, read the review on InvernessGiGs.  I was actually very pleased with what I came back with, the lighting was excellent.  As for Miles Kane, superb.  A very eccentric character who enjoyed making the most of the available space on stage, whilst  feeding as much movement into his solos as possible.  This aspect made it as much of a viewing pleasure as a listening pleasure which it indefinitely was, with intricate guitar riffs and hooking choruses it's hardly surprising that he is making his name known.  I only heard six songs before catching the bus home after a tiring day, I'd been photographing Joint Warrior movements just before this.

Waking up to a claggy sky with a few breaks set the story for the day.  Not great from the start but with a lot of promise.  The five Danish Air Force F-16AMs were still in and hopefully they would fly a local sortie in the morning before going home after lunch.  So me and Niall arrived down not long after 8.45 as five local Tornados taxied out on the northern taxi way.  We decided to walk over to the other side to try and get the Danes when they decided to go.  However - unknowingly to us - were already taxiing down the southern taxiway and their strobes could be be seen so we were stuck at the other side.  They were calling as DAF3270 flight which gave us doubts about them returning.

Thankfully, an hour or so later DAF3270 called up Lossie Approach and it was clear they would be returning.  The weather was getting a bit better but there were still plenty of clouds obstructing the sun.

Then they suddenly changed to runway 10, leaving us all confused.  We made our way up there and couldn't understand why.  A Twitter update from RAF Lossiemouth said they would finish using it at 11.30.  Which was good because not long after returning to 05 I heard the high pitched start-up sound of the F-16s although at first all I thought was 'that sounded different', so we walked round to the otherside and half way round I could hear Niall shouting 'they're taxi-ing!' so it was more of a run now than a walk.  The sun had broken through by now and we were absolutely spoiled.  This time they were going home.  It was also then noticed that both E-007 and E-008 had mission markings on the air intake, these were from the Libyan conflict last year.

Then Poker flight called up, however they changed the display axis and after a few minutes of confusion I found a spot even better than before.  Where I was standing had a bunch of trees right in front of me which played havoc for me catching them on their passes when they came from the west.

Having seen the 41sqn special taken out of the hangar early afternoon we wondered if it might do a test flight, instead it actually did a delivery flight back to Coningsby in the early evening.  Rounding off an excellent day with fantastic company and great weather in the end.

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Now that most of the Joint Warrior movements have finished and the visitors have returned back home I thought it would be a good time to look back at some of the action.  Having spent hours on end down at the fence and attending the enthusiasts day on the 18th I captured pretty much everything on offer but not always how I had hoped.

The biggest restrictive factor was the wind, predominantly from the north and east continually kept runway 05 in use.  The problem was that the Maritime Patrol Aircraft were proving tricky to catch lift off shots from other points and as a result I couldn't get a decent photo of the P-8A getting airborne on take-off.  On the plus side, you can catch the aircraft backtracking and turning on the runway.

The other problem was the weather, there were a lot of days where the weather was grim.  Thankfully in the second week there were days where it was showery rather than consistently raining and this created some very nice storm clouds.

The two weeks were excellent though, during exercise time plenty of people travel from over the country and even from Europe to photograph the participants.  You end up seeing many familiar faces and the activity is almost constant with the local Tornados from 12(B)sqn who had just returned from their post-theatre leave and resident 15(R)sqn.

A lot of my focus was pinned on the P-8A Poseidon of VX-1 as it was a very rare visitor and I based my visits around it and the three HH-60s which were also unusual to see.  This usually meant you would catch the odd P-3C, CP-140 or ATL2 while you were waiting and the Cobham Falcon 20s and Hawk T1s were active during the day so you could hardly miss them.

The enthusiasts day was a big bonus, and you can read all about it here.  It was really well organised and allowed for great access and photography.  Thankfully the weather also held quite well with plenty of sunshine in the morning although the afternoon was a bit grey.

With the next Joint Warrior, 12-2, due around October time and rumoured to be twinned with the Qualified Weapons Instructors Course could also be very promising.  It is months away, and only time will tell.

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If you live in Elgin or Lossiemouth, you may have heard increased jet noise for 20 minutes at a time every day or two.  If you were wondering what it is, it is the Tornado GR4 role demo.  Basically it is a demonstration practice for air shows around the United Kingdom in which the display will be presented.  It shows off the capabilities of the aircraft to the public and helps explain the roles in which the Tornado GR4 operates aswell as inspiring young people in the crowd to go 'Daddy, I want to be a pilot when I grow up.'  It's an important Public Relations part of the RAF and I encourage everyone to enjoy it.  If you keep an eye on RAF Lossiemouth's Facebook page you can often discover when it is likely to be on.