Black and white digital photography

[Freedomsrealm]

Hi,
I am looking into doing Black and White portraits. Was wondering if anyone had a fav author, or workshop, info etc. I am looking for photos that are pretty edgy and speak with a great deal of emotion, highlighting expressions and telling a story through the lines in a person's face. The subjects are street people for a documentary.
Thanks, I am looking forward to people's opinions on this.

[OsmosisStudios]

It's all gonna be in how you process the images. Shoot RAW and, depending on the converter you have, there are several methods.

Keep in mind: a good colour picture will make a good black and white, generally. Just properly expose (maybe on the + side), keep focus tight and have fun.

[konrad]

I agree with OsmosisStudios but just to make sure: shoot in color and only make them B&W in post-processing. Otherwise, your RAW files will lose important information. Some software also gives you various B&W methods and results, based on the information saved in color pictures. Therefore, it is important to shoot in color first.

If you want to take 'edgy' & 'emotional' pictures, I would definitely play with light, either natural light or involve flash and/or a light reflector or combine all 3! For a documentary, also the background behind a person might be important or objects a person holds. For example, if you take a picture of a homeless person, it might be good to show boxes he sleeps on in the near background; or for a cleaning-street person, to ask him to hold a sweeper in his/her hand(s).

Hope this helps and have lots of fun with this project!