At dptutorial we like black and white photography. We love it. Black and white is great way to learn important fundamentals of photography.
Black and white photography is about texture, lines, shapes, gradations of gray and contrast between darks and lights. Color photos often hide those aspects behind the surface of colors. When the colors are removed, those fundamental facets of texture, lines, shapes come forward and the different shades become apparent. Therefore the black and white format requires a different view when taking photo’s. The photographer has to focus on the graphic elements instead of colors.
Converting a color photo to a black and white photo is not limited to applying a filter to the photo with saturation set to zero. Black and white photography gives you creative and artistic options. You can adjust the photo make a wonderful black and white photo, with emphasis on the subject, telling a story and showing the forms and structures. You can play with the channel mixer, tuning levels and curves, maybe even limited to specific parts of the photo.
The great photographer Ansel Adams once said ”The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.”. With black and white in digital photography this has entered a new era with more possibilities for the performance then ever.
Flaws with black and white photography
Flaws are a bit different from color photography in black and white:
- Black and white photography could be the salvation for flaws you would have
with a colored version of your photo. You can convert to black and white to remove an abundant and mismatching chaos of colors in the background that inhibit the attention to the real subject. With street photography in a city this is often the case.
With a bright and overcast day often results in a white sky on the photo. In color that sky looks washed out and boring, but it is far less prominent black and white, and therefore reinforcing the subject of the photo.
Black and white photography is also often very excellent for portraits. If the face is blasted by copious flash, in color this would be unpleasant and look unnatural. The portrait becomes a more pleasing image when converted to black and white. - And if there are flaws left on a photo that is converted to black and white, they can be fixed relatively simple. Distracting and dark structures in the background can be eliminated entirely by squeezing those parts wholly into black. In the old days of film camera, this was done in the dark room with overexposing (’burning’) the specific area with the enlarger. In the digital age this is done with levels or brightness and a mask. Apparent distracting object in the background with lots of contrast can be flattened by reducing the contrast there.
- A black and white photo relies heavily on structure, tonal range, contrast, composition and forms.
So if you decide to make a black and white photo these must be available more than sufficiently in the picture. If it is too little, then there is nothing left, and the black and white photo becomes weak and dull. With a color photo you could frequently get away with it. Not with black and white photography. - The direction and amount of light must be right to add shadows to bring forward the structure, textures, and forms of objects. Frontal light is often not very helpful, sideways light is. For landscape photos, if the sun is low, the structure is embellished. The light and shadows shouldn’t become harsh too, although you can go pretty far with black and white.
- One of the of the critical skills for black and white photography is understand the way colors translate into black and white tones. In color a red ball object is visibly very distinct from green grass, and skin color is different from a blue sky. In black and white they convert into similar shades of grey and the distinction is lost. When shooting in color and converting it to black and white with photo editing software, you still have control how different colors are transformed to grey tones. One method is using the channel mixer, another is highlighting or darkening specific parts of the photo afterwards.
Oddities with black and white phtotography
Black and white photography is itself an oddity. It shows the world in a little abstract way that the naked eye normally doesn’t see. What might be boring when shot in color could become fascinating when captured in black and white. It creates a timeless and romantic look and heightens depth and emotion. It remains popular choice for weddings.
Some say that there is something sexy in black and white photos.- You can bring additional deviation in the monochrome image by bringing in … color! You can make photo made today have an old-fashioned look by giving it a sepia tone. This will give a little stir to the viewer. That’s odd, people they know from the present on an ancient photo? A blue color filter will give it a different cold look, while a warm red filter a warm look. Or use some uncommon and unexpected colors in photography like green and purple. While there is color in the monochrome image, the focus still is on the graphic elements.
- Infrared photography (IR) gives us complete different view on the world. Trees become white, and the sky black. Near infrared (NIR) light is closest in wavelength to visible light. Far infrared is further away from visible light and closer to the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Far infrared waves are thermal, the heat we can feel. With near infrared photography you can’t capture the thermal radiation. That needs specialized equipment.
You can easily test of your camera can capture near infrared light. Point a TV or DVD player remote control to your photo camera. While pushing a button on the remote control watch the LCD screen or make a photo. If you can see light spot on the remote control, your camera probably can make near infrared photos.
To actually make near infrared photos you just have to place a filter before your lens that blocks all visible light and passes infrared light. This is sometimes called a cold mirror filter. Because the filter is very dense, the exposure times will be very long, so you’ll need a good tripod. When you have made the photos, you won’t be surprised that the photos will appear to be … red. With a photo editing software like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, you can transform that to a beautiful black and white image.
Extremes with black and white photography
With black and white photos you can easily go to extremes. Completely white or completely black areas are no problem. The contrast can be far more extreme than with color photography.