Black and white photography tips

Black and white photography

It is Like a painting click on the pic to see in big size (1200 pixel)
I find it interesting to make pictures in black and white. Photography is an art, and black and white is one of the possible form of creation or expression. In BW the composition and the shapes or forms has a much stronger meaning, than in colored photography.

I even put a little extra blur in post processing.

Usually black and white photographs made by digital cameras doesn’t look like pictures made with film cameras. The biggest difference is contrast. The pictures made by film has more ‘pop’.

One of the iconic figure of black and white photography was Ansel Adams(1902-1984). He used a Middle format film camera, when he makes photos all over America. He preferred black and white over colored format. His most known pictures are about Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons and the Snake river, Sand dunes, Tree and snow, etc. He was developed the zone system for appropriate light metering. He was among the Group f/64, the group of photographers, who want to purify photography. He also developed a special darkroom technique to enhance contrast of his photographs.

7 tips for Black and White photography:

1. You can use your color photographs

to make nice Black and white photographs. It is interesting to think which of your photos fit best to BW style. Only thing you need to know is desaturate. If you use Gimp go to Colors-Desaturate. There are three methods, you can choose what you prefer.

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2. You can use curves

to make the photo brighter or darker.

3. You can leave one color

to make the pic more interesting. How to make it? Layer mask.

4. Remember Low iso is more dynamic range.

If you want high dynamic range, the lowest iso is the best.

5. Black and white color has a special meaning

think about it. All other colors are grey.

6. Dull days are ideal

In dull days it is hard to see any color anyway, why not shoot in Black and White? No problem with color noise as well.

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7. If you want a Software

for BW photography, Nikon‘s Silver Efex Pro perhaps is the best you can get. It is not cheap though. There are two versions at the moment. This is a professional software with lots of presets options for one click post-processing, it can create nice borders, there are 14 different borders are available. There is a history browser functions which means, you can check, undo or compare any corrections you made for the photo. This is not a standalone program, you need Photoshop (CS3 or later, Elements 6 or later), Lightroom (2.6 or later) or Apple Aperture (2.1.4) to host it.