Have you ever wondered how to create beautiful black and white photos graphics? Well, there's good news and bad news. First of all, shooting in black and white is still photography. This means that if the image is unsuccessful, then no amount of black and white magic will save it, that’s a fact. But the good news is that by following a few rules when creating black and white photos, you will have a lot of control in post-processing. Here are three that you might find useful.
№1 Initially do correct settings
Let's get started. There is only one requirement for creating black and white photographs - raw format. If you can't shoot in raw, shoot JPG in color. Ironic, I know, but I'll explain why later.
This is not an ironclad rule, but it is better to lose detail in the shadows than in the highlights. This means that it is better to underexpose than to overexpose, as this will greatly damage the black and white photo. But this of course remains at your discretion and intention. If you want to overexpose for a specific reason, then do it! Depending on the image below, you may want the highlights to be blown out.
Most modern cameras can shoot in pure RAW and display the image on the screen in black and white. If this is possible in your camera, then take advantage of it! This way, when you shoot, your image will be closer to the final result you had in mind.
#2 Two things to look for
Black and white photographs are usually considered last. If the image doesn't look good, convert to black and white and get good shot. But it doesn't work that way. If an image looks good in black and white, it means all the necessary elements were there to begin with. In any case, intentional black and white photographs will always be superior to those that were made so as a fallback option.
When you shoot black and white photography there are two things to look for, contrast and shapes.
Contrast in light and color
Look for contrast in highlights (light versus dark) as well as contrast in color (ironic again!). Once again, these rules are not mandatory. But if you are just starting out, it is better to first understand the rules and then break them.
Let's look at the graphs:
On color wheel shades that are close to each other will tend to look flat (like the two orange shades above). And colors that are far apart, like opposite sides of a circle, will appear more contrasty (blue and orange).
Search forms
In black and white photography, objects are reduced only to their essence, since there is no color to distract attention from form. This means that the composition must be strong as the elements of the photo become more obvious. Black and white photography doesn't seem so simple anymore, does it? Let's look at another example using the colors above.
The blue bunny stands out more than the dark orange one due to the color contrast.
INLightroom
This is where black and white photography really comes to life. First, I'll explain why I recommend shooting in color (or raw). The thing is, if you shoot straight in black and white, you'll get many shades of gray that the camera captures. But if you're shooting in color initially, you'll have much more control over tones in post-production. See below:
One stripe of color creates three different stripes of black and white (gray shades). The black and white shades you get are malleable. See how the red spot gives you three different shades of grey.
When shooting in color, you can say "red becomes very dark and blue becomes very light." You can do the opposite and say “the blue becomes very dark and the red becomes very light.” Now do you understand why it's so important to shoot in color? You lose these options when shooting in black and white.
PanelB& W VLightroom
In Lightroom, go to the Adjustments module, scroll down and click on B&W (right in the HSL/Color/B&W panel). All the color sliders are at your disposal here. Take the first slider. Moving red to the left will make all shades of red darker. The same goes for the rest of the sliders; orange, yellow, green, cyan, indigo, violet and magenta.
The good news is that you can work directly on the image. See that weird circle in the top left corner? If you click on it and hover over any part of the image, click and drag up, down, left or right, it will automatically sample the color and allow you to edit the black and white mix from there. You will see the corresponding sliders move and all similar colors (shades) in your image will be adjusted.
The image on the left is straight from the camera in formatRAW. On the right, all I did was darken the blues using the blue slider.
Once you've completed the black and white conversion, tweak the clarity and contrast. Again, this won't magically make the image beautiful, but if the composition is right, you should get a good result. Here's the final image:
Conclusion
As you can see, good black and white photography is based on the same rules that make a good photograph. But other than that, this special black and white aspect is about understanding how color transforms into monochrome. A good exercise is to convert color images and experiment with conversions to better understand how it works. Be yourself, stay focused and keep shooting.
One of the most mysterious types of photography is black and white photography. In the hands of a skilled photographer, even the most ordinary frame, translated into monochrome format, can become a masterpiece. This technique is used for various purposes - the desire to emphasize the character of the character, creating the necessary atmosphere, plotting, the desire to get rid of an excessive number of colors - each has its own motives. One constant, black and white photo can capture the viewer's attention if created with knowledge of all the subtleties and details. That's why we've chosen 15 important tips that will help every novice photographer learn how to work with monochrome photography.
- Watch Black and White Cinema
- Shoot in RAW format
- See with black and white eyes
- Pay attention to noises
- Watch the contrast
- Look for more grayscale gradients
- Use a polarizing filter
- Don't forget about textures
- Know the terminology
- Use patterns
- Black and white photos and long exposures
- A black and white frame is not a panacea for poor lighting, but it can sometimes help out
- Don't be fooled
- Shoot in HDR
- Work with the HSL panel in post-processing
Before you start shooting in black and white, you need to get used to it a little and get comfortable with the specifics of colors and framing. And no the best way, than to take advantage of the imperishable classics. Cinematic masterpieces such as Casablanca will not only help you have a good time, but also give you a lot of great ideas. Don’t be shy and turn to established photographers for help; you can get inspired by the best black and white shots of famous artists.
When we take a photo, any photo, it doesn't always come out the way we would like. Usually, this only becomes noticeable at home, when viewing the footage on the big screen. Even if nothing can be changed, you can always fix something. The RAW format (or “raw” in translation) allows you to make a lot of adjustments during post-processing. Adjust exposure, contrast, etc. Therefore, despite the fact that Raw photos take up more space on the memory card, this is the most suitable format in which you should always shoot.
As confusing as it may sound, this is exactly what you need to look at before taking a photo. In order for colors not to distract from the plot, it is not at all necessary to rush to invent new glasses. You just need to pay attention to the lines, shadows and shapes. They are the ones who build the composition, and on it, in turn, the entire black and white photograph rests.
Until recently, low light conditions required flashes, additional lighting sources, and generally made life difficult for the photographer in every possible way. Modern cameras have incredible capabilities even with a small amount of light. In addition, we should not forget that we always have at hand a lot of programs that can reduce the amount of noise in a photo. And yet, habit overcomes rationality, and photographers do not pay attention to noise. However, a true master must take into account all the details, including annoying points.
The tastes and colors of your comrades may not be the same, but the most outstanding photographs taken in black and white tend to include both almost solid white areas and almost solid black areas. By increasing the contrast, you can add depth to the frame, hide unnecessary, distracting details and emphasize the most important elements. Therefore, it is always worth fiddling with the settings (or sliders in post-processing) to compare a more contrasty and less contrasty frame. The result may surprise you.
In addition to black and white, there are millions of intermediate colors in the frame, and all of them undoubtedly affect the perception of the final picture. To ensure that the photo does not seem monotonous and boring, you should choose for black and white shooting those objects that have enough intermediate shades. If the object is already selected, you can add them using shadows, reflectors and additional light. As a result, you will be able to enrich the image and make it more interesting for the viewer.
As we already know from multiple previous materials, polarizing filter removes unnecessary glare and reflections when shooting water or treetops. They can be distracting in a color photo, but when we're talking about about black and white, they can completely invalidate the idea and meaning of the shot. Therefore, a polarizing filter is especially important for a monochrome style. With its help, you will be able to maintain the composition and not oversaturate the frame with unnecessary details.
There are pros and cons to textures in black and white photography. One of the advantages is that if they are not primitively directly lit, their contrast and detail will add to the attractiveness of the image. In addition, they can be used to highlight the main object or model.
The downside of textures, again, is that they distract attention - if used incorrectly, they can distract the viewer's attention. For example, they should not try to fill negative space. So while filming, always be aware of where textures will help enhance the shot and where they risk ruining it.
Black and white photography is generally referred to by three big terms - b/w (black and white), monochrome and grayscale. So, “monochrome” means color placed on a neutral background, so black and white photos (usually the subject is on a white or black background) are the type (most common) of monochrome photography. But grayscale (grayscale) is just a way to display black and white images on a computer, the capabilities of which, compared to the eye, are limited.
If you look closely, in nature we are often surrounded by natural patterns that we rarely pay attention to. However, it's time to open our eyes: if we look away from the abundance of colors, we can notice these very patterns, and they are often the ones that can give meaning to a photo or even create an image. Once you train yourself to pay attention to them, you will begin to notice them everywhere - in the arrangement of cars in parking lots, in the shoes of people standing in line, in clothes hanging in a store, and so on. We are surrounded by a lot of interesting ideas.
Long exposure is used in various types Shooting, usually nature or city landscapes. However, sometimes it is the colors that violate the integrity of the picture. In this case, before abandoning the photo, you can try your luck in black and white format. Experience shows that many functions and effects typical for photos on long exposure, combine very well with b/w, so we recommend experimenting.
It happens that the conditions turn against you and natural lighting, which you cannot cope with, does not give the best result. You can (and should) use filters, flashes, reflectors and everything you have in your arsenal, but sometimes it’s enough to just remove the colors, thus hiding imperfections. This does not always work, but for example, if we are talking about a frame that is not so easy to catch (for example, a wild animal), it is worth trying black and white.
Sometimes we shoot footage that simply doesn't have enough color. This happens especially often in winter - an abandoned blackened house, against a backdrop of pure snow, with dry trees behind - is this a familiar picture? As a rule, at the post-processing stage, when seeing such frames, the hand arbitrarily reaches for B/W, but if you give free rein to the impulse and convert the photo to black and white format, the result is most often disappointing. So, if the photo is already practically colorless, it will look better in color mode than in black and white.
It's sometimes surprising how little attention the photography community pays to black-and-white HDR photos. We're all used to how impressive HDR photos look, how they're a little exaggerated, dramatic, and even three-dimensional. And all this is without a doubt ideal for black and white photography. Therefore, we definitely shouldn’t miss this opportunity - everything that we want to achieve from b/w will become even brighter when using HDR.
Most likely, this advice is the most important and it concerns not the shooting process itself or preparation for it, but post-processing. Once you have a finished photo in your hands, it is absolutely necessary to correct the colors using the HSL panel in your image editor. You need to focus on many details and moments, but what is definitely clear is that sometimes you can achieve a much better result if you use this little secret.
Black and white photography is timeless; it has always been in demand. With the advent of mass color photography, black and white for some time attracted mainly professionals and fine connoisseurs, but now interest in it has increased again. Many modern digital cameras have a black-and-white shooting mode, and printer manufacturers are constantly improving the quality of black-and-white photo printing.
Practice: nuances black and white photography
Features of black and white photographs
It is not for nothing that masters of photography begin training their students with black and white photography: in such photographs the composition is much more important, and all the flaws are more visible. Try to “decolorize” some ordinary “everyday” photo in a graphics editor; most of it will probably just turn into a gray spot. In a color photograph, a red flower on a green lawn looks festive and bright, but in a black and white version it can barely be seen - the red and green colors merge.
The difference between color and black and white photography is not only the absence of color in the latter. A monochrome photo reveals the essence of things deeper, focusing attention on the most important and interesting. Black and white photography reveals lines and shapes, the emphasis is on structure, light and shade, and rhythm. First of all, black and white photography is about emotions, personal impressions, and the photographer’s special view of the surrounding space. The general approach to black and white photography is different, so it is important to learn to see the colors of the world around you in monochrome.
When is black and white photography preferable? Most often this is a portrait, a nude; genre and reportage subjects look great in black and white photography. But this does not mean that landscapes and still lifes will not look good in black and white.
good color photograph, most likely, should not be converted to black and white mode. It is the successfully found color solution that makes it attractive, and if you remove the color, then the photo will only lose. For example, photographs that you brought back from travels to exotic countries should play with color and convey local flavor. Although several interesting black and white photographs will only decorate your photo album, their semantic content should be completely different.
It may also happen that the color component does not fit into the overall design and overloads the photo, different color spots do not harmonize, they are too colorful. In this case, it makes sense to take the photo in black and white. Therefore, do not rush to delete an unsuccessful color photo - it is possible that in black and white, after some processing in a graphics editor, it will become much better.
So, to get a black and white photograph, you can go two ways. The first option: take a color photo, and then use a graphics editor to get the frame in black and white. The second option: set the camera settings to black and white photography mode (most modern cameras allow this). In the first case, you leave yourself the opportunity to return to the original color option. In addition, you have at your disposal the powerful tools of modern graphic editors that give flexible control over the process. What photographers used to do in the “dark room”, developing film, experimenting with developers, and printing photographs, you can now get by working with the program. In the second case, in the graphic editor you only “extend” the image to the desired result.
Composition
First of all, you must determine for yourself what you want to emphasize, highlight in the photograph, and select the means to achieve expressiveness accordingly. Think about whether you need to enhance sharpness and contrast in order to show a courageous face in the photo or an old abandoned ship worn out by time, rain and heat, or, conversely, to soften a gentle portrait of a woman or child, to show a “paradise” landscape in the photo.
When you are thinking about a future black and white photograph, abstract from the rich and bright colors - a monochrome photograph will not convey them anyway; moreover, they can merge.
It is desirable that the picture retains a rich range of halftones. The range of a successful photograph is from black to pure white. Tonality and contrast are the main starting points on which the success of your work depends. But it should be noted that black and white photographs dark areas will look almost dark, so try to structure your plot in such a way as to avoid large “black holes”.
If you look around with an attentive eye, you can take an original and high-quality black and white photograph almost everywhere. Contrasting textures, relief and attractive shapes, patterns, rhythmic, repeating details of the scene make the photograph more advantageous. When looking for interesting and contrasting graphic forms, do not forget Golden Rule: the simpler the better. The picture should not be overloaded with unnecessary details.
Finding the plot is not difficult, just search carefully and you will find a lot of interesting things. These can be ancient buildings and structures, castles and palaces, ruins, fences, gates, roofs, ornaments, awnings, various technical structures and their elements, shadows, reflections. Also interesting are modern buildings and structures with many architectural elements.
The most unexpected and ordinary things, clear and contrasting, can give you wonderful scenes: a paved street, a reflection in a puddle, bridges, statues, trees. The main thing is that the main idea of the photo is revealed most fully and all attention is focused on it.
When taking a portrait, try to reveal the person’s character, focus on the characteristic gesture, look, and facial expressions. You can bring the camera closer to your face or shoot from afar using optical zoom, change the angle, for example, shoot from a high point.
To create interesting photo, pay attention to perspective, foreground. This will give you the opportunity to add originality. Experiment with angles and shooting angles.
Exposition
A good black and white photograph is, as a rule, a quality work of the photographer. First of all, the exposure must be set very precisely so that the scene is conveyed with smooth tonal transitions, and the photo does not turn out dark or too light, unless, of course, this is not your intention.
Lighting in photography generally plays an important role, and in black and white photography it is especially important. Successful lighting, competent work with light is another important point that is worth paying attention to. When working with light, you should use exposure metering correctly. Carefully read the camera instructions and become familiar with how the exposure metering system works. The result directly depends on this.
Multi-point (matrix) metering gives an even exposure, which is a plus for a color photograph, but in black and white mode you will get a frame that lacks volume and dynamics. Set to center-weighted metering to enhance contrast and brightness. Using spot metering will give your photos harsh transitions and shadows.
If you're planning to take a silhouette shot, measure the exposure using the highlights of the scene, then, if necessary, keep the shutter button pressed halfway and recompose the shot. Then the dark details will turn out almost black. Do not meter exposure in the shadow areas of the scene, so as not to end up with a blown-out, low-contrast, and overexposed photo.
Different times of the day provide different lighting and light patterns, giving greater expressiveness to the photo, placing emphasis on shape, texture, and tonality. You can get different perceptions of the same scene taken at different times of the day under different lighting.
The lower the light sensitivity you set on your digital camera, the cleaner and better quality the photo will be. The photo will be detailed and “smooth”. As the sensitivity increases, as is known, noise increases and characteristic graininess appears, which causes much less damage to black-and-white photographs than to color ones. Grain brings artistic value to a photograph, and hard, grainy photographs have a special appeal. The same effect can be simulated in a graphic editor by applying appropriate filters.
Light filters
To make a good black and white photograph, achieve greater expressiveness, correct some inaccuracies that are often indispensable, and enhance the emphasis, it is sometimes useful to use filters. Without filters, your photo may have areas that are too light or too dark, and details may disappear. For example, clouds in the sky may turn into flat, indistinct spots, or colored objects may blend into the background in a black and white photograph. A light filter can make an individual tone both lighter and darker, and you can enhance or weaken the contrast. Contrast is enhanced by an ultraviolet filter, a polarizing filter, and a neutral density filter.
A polarizing filter will give the sky more density without changing the rest of the frame, and will also allow you to enhance or remove highlights. When shooting during the day, a light yellow filter will lighten the green foliage and grass, and darken the blue sky a little; it will show up well in the photo, and the clouds against this background will look emphatically white. In sunny weather, the orange filter emphasizes the shape of the clouds; in cloudy weather, it increases the contrast and the sky becomes more saturated.
When shooting in artificial light (incandescent lamps), red colors appear lighter and blue colors appear darker. In this case, blue-green and light blue filters will help.
In some cases you may need a softening filter. If there are no light filters, then you can safely use special plugins in the graphics editor.
It also doesn't hurt to experiment with different effects. For example, sepia toning (ancient buildings, old streets will look good), apply solarization, etc. After all, the possibilities of modern software huge. The result is limited only by your imagination.
Features of landscape photography
When shooting a landscape in black and white, try to convey the boundlessness of the sky, fancy clouds in the picture, leave the sky most of the frame area. Don't be afraid of gloomy cloudy weather - this is not a reason to refuse to shoot, even in bad weather you can find and shoot amazing scenes. Try to give your composition balance. For example, grass, bushes, trees against the background of water, or metal or wooden structures against the background of the sky will look contrasting.
When shooting a black and white landscape, try to darken the blue of the sky a little and increase the contrast. Try crouching down and shooting from a low point, or find a high point and capture more space. Large stones, a river running over stones, rocks, lonely dried trees are well conveyed.
When shooting a landscape, it is very interesting to get a high-contrast photo, this can be done on a bright sunny day. One option for taking such a photograph is to shoot against the sun. Of course, you should not point the lens directly at the sun - this will simply damage the camera's sensor. You need to move the lens a little so that direct sunlight does not hit the lens. A lens hood will help get rid of bright glare. You can also choose a shooting point and position yourself so that there is a subject between you and the sun - a tree trunk, a human figure, a yacht sail. This object, blocking the sun, will give a contrasting picture.
About technology
Don't get caught up in the purely technical side of things, searching for the "best" camera or the "best" lens. Learn to take emotional, interesting, vivid shots with the equipment at your disposal.
Black and white photography itself does not require expensive equipment; ordinary photography is quite sufficient. compact camera or entry-level DSLRs. To get the best result and have full control over the shooting process, it is of course best to have SLR camera. If you don’t know what lens to buy and what focal lengths you need, then a standard “fifty-kopeck” would be a good choice to start with - fast lens With focal length 50 mm, taking into account the crop factor, turns into a moderate telephoto on digital SLRs. The high aperture of the lens is a big advantage, especially in poor lighting conditions.
A tripod and remote control will also be useful. remote control or release cable.
The main thing is that the shooting itself and the search for interesting subjects should bring pleasure. A rich imagination, the ability to “see”, a desire to photograph, a lot of practice, visiting exhibitions and galleries - these are the basis of success. Together with studying photography, all this will bring interesting and original photographs. There is always something to strive for, and no one is stopping you from taking better pictures than the masters.
Features of black and white photographs
Great photographers begin training their students with the intricacies of black and white photography. This is due to the fact that in such photographs the composition is very important, so all the flaws are clearly visible. To make sure of this, you need to “decolorize” an ordinary “everyday” photo in a regular graphics editor; you can be more than sure that most of the photo will be covered with gray spots. If you look at a color photo with a red flower on a green lawn, then it will be bright and festive. But if it is a black and white photograph, the green and red colors will merge and you may not see anything. The difference between black and white and color photography is not only that color is missing. Thanks to monochrome photographs, you can reveal the essence of things more deeply, while focusing on the most interesting and most important. Black and white photography allows you to highlight shapes and lines, emphasizing rhythm, light and shade and structure. In the foreground of monochrome photographs are impressions and emotions. It is for this reason that black and white photographs have a completely different approach, so for the monochrome version you need to see the colors of the world around you in your own way.
So, when is it better to give preference to black and white photographs? In most cases, this is a nude, a portrait; reportage and genre subjects also look very good in black and white photography. But this does not mean that still life and landscape will not look good in black and white.
A good color photograph most likely should not be converted to black and white. It is the successfully found color solution that makes it attractive, and if you remove the color, then the photo will only lose. For example, photographs that you brought back from travels to exotic countries should play with color and convey local flavor. Although several interesting black and white photographs will only decorate your photo album, their semantic content should be completely different.
It may also happen that the color component does not fit into the overall design and overloads the photo, different color spots do not harmonize, they are too colorful. In this case, it makes sense to take the photo in black and white. Therefore, do not rush to delete an unsuccessful color photo - it is possible that in black and white, after some processing in a graphics editor, it will become much better.
So, in order to get a good monochrome photograph, you can go in two ways. The first option: take a regular color photo, which is converted into black and white in a graphics editor. The second way: set your camera to black and white photography mode. In the first case, you leave yourself the opportunity to return to the original color option. In addition, you have at your disposal the powerful tools of modern graphic editors that give flexible control over the process. What photographers used to do in the “dark room”, developing film, experimenting with developers, and printing photographs, you can now get by working with the program. In the second case, in the graphic editor you only “extend” the image to the desired result.
Composition
First of all, you must determine for yourself what you want to emphasize, highlight in the photograph, and select the means to achieve expressiveness accordingly. Think about whether you need to enhance sharpness and contrast in order to show a courageous face in the photo or an old abandoned ship worn out by time, rain and heat, or, conversely, to soften a gentle portrait of a woman or child, to show a “paradise” landscape in the photo.
When you are thinking about a future black and white photograph, abstract from the rich and bright colors - a monochrome photograph will not convey them anyway; moreover, they can merge.
It is desirable that the picture retains a rich range of halftones. The range of a successful photograph is from black to pure white. Tonality and contrast are the main starting points on which the success of your work depends. But it should be noted that in black and white photographs, dark areas will look almost dark, so try to construct the plot in such a way as to avoid large “black holes”.
If you look around with an attentive eye, you can take an original and high-quality black and white photograph almost everywhere. Contrasting textures, relief and attractive shapes, patterns, rhythmic, repeating details of the scene make the photograph more advantageous. When looking for interesting and contrasting graphic forms, remember the golden rule: the simpler the better. The picture should not be overloaded with unnecessary details.
A selection of black and white photographs
Today I want to start a series of articles about black and white photography, about how to learn how to take monochrome photographs competently, what technologies are available for this, what you need to take into account and what you pay attention to in order to hone your skills, and in general, let’s talk about the philosophy of the image itself, devoid of color information. Now I want to reveal to you the basic postulates, based on which, every professional photographer tries to express himself through black and white photographs.
I already tried to answer the question in a previous article: . But I never cease to be amazed at the stunning effect that classic B&W photographs have on me, and I guess I’m not alone in this.
Black and white photography is one of the most interesting and inspiring trends in the field of photography. Monochrome images laid the foundation for the entire photography industry: with the development of technology, cameras and methods for obtaining photographs were improved. The Frenchman Louis Jacques Daguerre obtained the first stable photographic image back in 1839 and subsequently called such pictures daggerotypes. In the same nineteenth century, James Maxwell introduced the world to a method of obtaining color photography. In the thirties of the last century, Kodak began to produce the first color photographic materials. The market developed at a rapid pace, the number of amateur photographers increased, photographic processes were simplified even at the end of the 20th century. people have stepped into the digital age.
How to learn to take black and white photographs: secrets of professionals.
See the world in B&W.
Most of the general tips on how to compose or structure a good shot apply the same to black and white photography. However, the main noticeable difference is that you don't have to pay attention to the color. This means that you must train yourself to look at shapes, tones and textures, to look with eyes that can only see in B&W.
Masters of black and white photography can easily imagine a world without color. Thanks to my experience shooting monochrome images, they have trained their heads to instantly visually assess space in order to imagine it without color saturation. Imagine how the photo will turn out even before the camera shutter clicks. But such a skill cannot be acquired in short term. I cannot say that I have mastered this skill, and like a robot I switch modes, but I constantly train my brain to perceive the surrounding reality in black and white format. Only practice and constant effort are the correct training mechanism.
Focus on contrast.
The human eye is designed to analyze two things: light intensity and color. If you remove color, your eyes become more sensitive to light intensity. We naturally select areas of contrast, i.e. we perceive reality and objects (their dimensions, outlines) by comparing areas of brightness, when one thing is more or less dark than another. As a photographer who creates pictures in black and white, you simply have to know more about contrast, see it, feel it. And with its help, reveal to the viewer the essence of your photographs, their intention, and reflect important details. Always look for scenes/plots that are full of high contrast characters and then your black and white photographs will be irresistible a priori.
If initially your shots do not make the right impression, then using processing methods in Photoshop such as manipulating levels, curves, etc., will turn your images into contrasting photographs. In other words, don’t give up on unimpressive images at first glance, because modern technologies allow you to qualitatively improve the original footage.
Focus on texture.
Texture is very much a form of contrast. If you think about it, texture is a pattern of shadows and highlights of varying intensities. Color usually makes its own changes to the texture (as perceived by the human eye), so to speak, leaves its mark, like a filter behind which it manifests itself differently. Different shades can mask subtle, unnoticeable textures, or enhance them. In black and white photographs it carries new information. So look for areas with interesting texture that may be hidden behind masks of bright colors. It often acts as guide lines and serves as a good background for indicating the main artistic object. Have you noticed how B/W photographs containing barns, wooden fences or antiques are irresistible(?). This is because the objects are full of texture, traces of experience, of antiquity.
Sitting down at the computer to convert images to monochrome, you can “pull out”/reveal texture from almost smooth, rough-free surfaces. In digital photos, blues and reds tend to have more noise than greens, so using tools like the channel mixer and black and white adjustment levels in Photoshop will really bring out the textures.
Take photographs in color.
This item is primarily aimed at photographers who use digital cameras(eg DSLR). If your device provides the ability to switch in the Menu settings to photo shooting mode in black and white, then try to never use it. In fact, by using this function, the camera, when capturing a frame, actually receives color information and then converts the image to black and white, including the algorithm embedded in the processor. But then you will have a file on your flash card that has irretrievably lost a huge part of the color information, i.e. "lost weight." No wonder the pictures were taken in black and white. and in the color of the same space, the weight will be different, or rather, a monochrome image, due to the loss of data about the color environment, will become “lighter” by hundreds of kilobytes. Thus, by turning on the mode on the camera “ black and white photography"You're limiting your post-processing capabilities.
However, my categoricalness in this matter can play a cruel joke on you. And you, having accepted good advice, will strictly follow it. But the camera function for receiving b&w photo very useful. I'll explain why. If you want to use this mode to preview/see what a scene looks like without color, then this is quite justified. This will help you identify how good the black and white photographs you are planning to capture are! But be sure to switch back and shoot in color, and then finalize the story at home.
Shoot in RAW.
I know a lot of blog readers don't have the option simply because their camera doesn't have this preset. Or they don’t take photographs in Raw format due to ignorance of how to do this and lack of understanding of the advantages, for example, of RAW over JPEG. Or maybe they don’t shoot in the Raw format on principle because they don’t like it and the labor costs associated with it. But most photographers see undeniable advantages in subsequent work with RAW files. Therefore, if you strive to receive magnificent black and white images, then shoot and write data to the flash card in Raw format.
To be continued in the second part of the article about tips for creating black and white photos...
Best regards, photographer Evgeniy Shterbets.
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