Key Ingredients for Black and White Images
Digital Camera Magazine (UK) has a useful feature in their October issue on Black and White photography. It contains a lot of good information - but one of the topics that they cover was on how to ’see in black and white’.
In it the author shares 4 ‘key ingredients’ of that will help you to visualize whether a scene will work as a black and white image or not. The titles below are from the article - the thoughts are mine (and I’ve added one of my own tips too).
1. Look for Contrast
One of the elements that can give interest to a black and white shot is contrast. Because you can’t use color to distinguish one element of your image from another the tonal variances become all the more important. This doesn’t mean you need to look for stark contrasts in every shot you want to convert to black and white - the subject matter will come into play here - but you should ponder how the contrast will come into play when composing your shot.
2. Wait for the Right Light
Linked to contrast, the lighting in a black and white shot can be very important. For example - h3 or direct lighting will often add to contrast. Side lighting will reveal any texture that a subject might have (and in portraits will accentuate features) and light from any one direction will create shadows. All of these techniques can add interest to a black and white image - however they can also be distracting - so play with light with care.
3. Shapes and Patterns
Patterns or shapes that can sometimes almost go unseen in color (due to the color itself drawing attention) can come alive in a black and white shot. Black and White shots that rely upon pattern can often take on an abstract quality.
4. Capture Texture
I’ve already mentioned this above when talking about side lighting - but revealing the texture of a subject can add a new dimension to an image. The sidelight does this by creating shadows.
A Tip for Black and White Landscapes
One more quick tip of my own for those wanting to try black and white landscape photography:
When shooting black and white landscapes look for ‘active skies’. I was given this advice by a photographer a few months ago who showed me some examples of his own black and white landscape work. The skies in his images were breathtaking with wonderful cloud formations and what often looked like storms about to break. Having skies with so much ‘action’ in them added mood and a really dynamic look and feel to his images. Without this active element the images looked rather empty and dull. I think the same principle could be applied to most types of black and white images that have large parts of them dominated by any one thing. If a large part of your image is all the same tone the image can look quite lifeless (unless of course you’re going for a more minimalist look.
Want to Read more on the topic - check out Do you See in Black and White? and 5 Black and White Photography Tips.
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Beautiful snaps and some very interesting tips - esp the one about the active skies.
The one about landscapes is really interesting ;)
i think that this is a very usefull resourse and i thank you for this and no w i have somethingz to go on for my goal to be digital photographer
very well done.. i love taking B&W photos, the mood is different.
Just what I was looking for. The tips are extremely useful even for an amateur photographer like myself !! Good work. Keep it up and upper !!
OK, so my question is…do you usually take your B&W photos in B&W or in color and convert later?
That sky formation was amazing. If only I could do that. :)
4 foundations of black & white photography explained.
hmm, I’ve read somewhere that you should take the photos in colour, and then convert to B&W in photoshop. Something about the camera can’t really capture all the details?
Correct me if I’m wrong please!
I usually take my photos in colour. Them, convert its to B&W. If you take your photos in B&W, you obtain just monocrome tonalities
I love the landscape photo..I am in photo 2 in school right now and my project is to make the sky move like that in my photo and those were some great tips: )
It’s better to do a color photo and convert in photoshop. esp when using the channel mixer in monochrome mode(the greyscale option is good for a newspaper, but bad for “fine art” prints).
Also if your going to do this a lot, its good to have a constant percent of red, green, and blue #’s so your photography tends to look less digital and more like the older but more respected darkroom shots.
Thanks for the summary of tips for B&W photography. I’ve been planning to experiment with B&W more, so these tips will certainly help me. It’s all about the light.