BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

When it comes to accurately reflecting reality, the color photographs may be superior. But when it comes to capturing atmosphere in an image, color photographs rarely come close to the black / white plates. Maybe you think that this is the same as photographing in color. You go out with the same camera. And because we no longer work with films in the digital age, we almost always automatically photograph in color.

But is there so much difference? More than you might think, and that's why I want to talk about this today ... Photographing in Black / White.

Because if you convert the right photo to Black / White that can be really fantastic. But you have to know WHERE to pay attention to when you take that photo that should become your masterpiece.

And as with many things in life, "Less is More", that is certainly the case for Black / White photographs. Because how strange it may sound, by removing something you add something. Now I hear you thinking, huh what? In other words, by taking the color out of the photo, you add ambiance to it.

You reveal subtle details that you might not otherwise notice. Structures can be seen much more clearly in black and white.

But now a few tips. Because how do YOU make sure that your photos in black and white will not just become a black and white photo, but a fantastic black / white photo.

• Start by learning to recognize details by not only paying attention to colors during shooting. If you control this trick, you are already halfway through the process of making that fantastic black and white photo.

• Pay attention to the light, and if you are going to photograph for black / white, the ABSENCE of light is just as important as the PRESENCE of light.

• Normally you photograph with the sun in your back, if you want to convert your photo to black and white that is good for the worst boring result you can get. So when you start shooting with the idea of making your photo black / white later, photograph in a way that gives you harsh contrasts and shadows. That is what makes your black and white photo interesting. Backlight and light from the side, these are interesting situations for black and white photography because these two give the most shadows and contrasts.

• Pay attention to contrasts, details of structures, large solid surfaces are very boring in Black / White photography. Example, a color photograph can still look beautiful if you have a summery blue sky without a cloud in the air. A black-and-white photograph becomes dull with those same beautiful summery clear blue sky without that cloud in the air.

• Photograph in color! The more color you see, the better it is, the more contrast, the better. Just make sure that there is no clipping in your histogram. But try to use the dynamic range of your camera as much as possible, and if the dynamic range of the scene you want to photograph is larger than the dynamic range of your camera ... make HDR recordings (High Dynamic Range).

• If you have a DSLR, you can easily set it to Monochrome. On your screen you get an idea how a scene in black and white will look like. But make photos in RAW. When you come home you have saved all the color information by the RAW file you have photographed, while you have seen an idea of how it looks on your screen of your camera. The advantage of this is that when converting to black and white you have all the color information at your disposal so you can achieve a much better depth in your photo and have more information in your file. If you want to shoot in black and white straight away, you have to set your camera to JPEG, and that means a lot of loss of data in your file. That's a shame. So also for black / white, photography in RAW and therefore in COLOR.

• Just go photograph on a rainy day. The light is soft because of the clouds, which gives you the chance to show the structures everywhere. Because of the beautiful soft light they come out much more clearly. At home in post-editing you often have to add some extra contrast, but that is fine with black and white photography.

• Keep you ISO low, and while editing you can add noise for ambiance if you like to.
  
  

The most important points are listed, and as with everything in photography. Exercise is important. Very important. Learning to look differently, learning to see yourself without color is not easy. Teaching yourself to see the contrasts and structures instead of the colors is not easy, but it is, if you want to learn it, a complete journey of discovery where you see the simplest things completely different. Things that you know so well can look completely different. Sometimes even have an alienating effect.

That makes black & white photography interesting again. Everyday environments, re-learn subjects in a 'world without color'.

I wish everyone a lot of fun ... Happy Shooting!

All images in this blog are mine and are copyrighted. Do you want to use or publish one of my images? Please contact me via email: [email protected]

or on Discord: hetty-rowan#7082