Have you ever wondered how to create beautiful black and white photographs? Well, there is good and bad news. First of all, shooting in black and white is still photography. And this means that if the image is unsuccessful, then no black and white magic will save it, this is a fact. But the good news is that following some rules in creating black and white pictures, you get 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 raw, shoot JPG in color. Ironic, I know, but I'll explain why later.
It's not an ironclad rule, but it's better to lose detail in the shadows than in the highlights. This means that it is better to underexpose than overexpose, as this will greatly damage the black and white photograph. But of course this is up to you and your intention. If you want to overexpose for a specific reason, then do it! Depending on the image, as shown below, you may want the highlights to be overexposed.
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 cell, then use it! This way, as you shoot, your image will be closer to the end result you envisioned.
#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 frame. But it doesn't work that way. If the image looks good in black and white, it means that all the necessary elements were in it initially. In any case, intentional black and white photographs will always outperform those taken as such as a fallback.
When you shoot a black and white photograph, there are two things to look for, contrast and form.
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 binding. But if you are just starting out, it is better to first understand the rules, and then break them.
Let's look at the charts:
On the color wheel shades that are close together will tend to look flat (like the two orange shades above). And colors that are far apart, like opposite sides of a circle, will look more contrasting (blue and orange).
Look for forms
In black and white photography, objects are reduced to their essence only, as there is no color to distract attention from form. This means that the composition needs to be strong as the elements of the photo become more apparent. Black and white photography doesn't seem so easy anymore, does it? Let's look at another example using the colors above.
The blue rabbit stands out more than the dark orange due to the color contrast.
ATLightroom
This is where black and white photography really comes to life. First, I'll explain why I recommend shooting in color (or raw). The fact is that shooting immediately in black and white, you will get many shades of gray that the camera captures. But if you shoot in color initially, then you will have much more options for working with shades 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 gray.
When shooting in color, you can say "red becomes very dark and blue becomes very light." You can do the opposite and say "blue becomes very dark and red becomes very light." Now you understand why it is so important to shoot in color? You lose these options when shooting in black and white.
PanelB& W inLightroom
In Lightroom, go to the Adjustments module, scroll down and click on B&W (on the right in the HSL/Color/B&W panel). All 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 directly from the camera in the formatRAW. On the right, all I did was darken the blues with the blue slider.
After you've completed your black and white conversion, tweak the clarity and contrast. Again, this won't make the image magically beautiful, but if the composition is right, then you should get a good result. Here is the final image:
Conclusion
As you can see, good black and white photos are based on the same rules that make a good photo. But otherwise, 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, converted to monochrome, can become a masterpiece. This technique is used for various purposes - the desire to emphasize the character of the character, the creation of the necessary atmosphere, the construction of the plot, the desire to get rid of an excessive number of colors - each has its own motives. One thing is constant black and white photo can capture the attention of the viewer if created with knowledge of all the subtleties and details. That's why we've selected 15 essential tips to help every aspiring photographer learn how to work with monochrome photography.
- Watch Black and White Movies
- Shoot in RAW
- See in black and white
- Pay attention to noise
- Watch out for contrast
- Look for more gray gradients
- Use a polarizing filter
- Don't Forget About Textures
- Know the terminology
- Use Patterns
- Black and white photos and long exposure
- 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 and get used to the specifics of colors and frame construction. And no better way than take advantage of the timeless classics. Cinematic masterpieces such as Casablanca will not only help you have a good time, but also give you a lot of great ideas. Feel free to ask for help from established photographers, you can be 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, it becomes noticeable only at home, when viewing the footage on the big screen. Let nothing be changed, you can always fix something. The RAW format (or “raw” in translation) allows you to make a lot of adjustments in post-processing. Adjust exposure, contrast, etc. Therefore, although Raw photos take up more space on the memory card, this is the most suitable format in which to always shoot.
As obscure as it may sound, this is exactly what you need to look before taking a picture. In order for the colors not to distract from the plot, it is not at all necessary to run to invent new glasses. It is enough just to pay attention to the lines, shadows and shapes. It is they who build the composition, and on it, in turn, the whole black-and-white picture rests.
Until recently, low light conditions required flashes, additional light sources, and generally made life difficult for the photographer in every possible way. Modern cameras have incredible abilities even with a small amount of light. In addition, do not forget that at hand we always have a lot of programs that can reduce the amount of noise in the photo. And yet, habit wins over rationality, and photographers do not pay attention to noise. However, a real master must take into account all the details, including annoying dots.
Taste and color may not be the best, but the most outstanding photographs taken in black and white tend to include areas that are near-solid white as well as near-solid black. 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 turning the settings (or sliders in post-processing) to compare a more contrasted and less contrasted 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. In order for the photo not to seem monotonous and boring, it is worth choosing for black and white shooting those objects in which there are 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 numerous previous materials, polarizing filter removes unnecessary glare and reflections when shooting water or tree crowns. They can also be distracting in a color photo, but when we are talking about black and white, they can completely invalidate the idea and meaning of the frame. Therefore, a polarizing filter is especially important for a monochrome style. With it, you will be able to save the composition and not oversaturate the frame with unnecessary details.
Textures in black and white photography have both pros and cons. One of the benefits is that if they are not highlighted in a primitively direct way, their contrast and detail will add to the attractiveness of the image. In addition, they can be used to emphasize the main object or model.
The downside of textures is again distraction - if used incorrectly, they can scatter the viewer's attention. For example, they should not try to fill the negative space. Therefore, when shooting, always keep an eye on where textures will help improve the frame, and where they risk ruining it.
As a rule, three big terms are referred to black and white photography - b / w (black and white), monochrome and grayscale. So, “monochrome” means a color placed on a neutral background, so black and white photos (usually the subject is on a white or black background) are the type of (most common) monochrome photography. But grayscale (grayscale) is just a way to display black and white images on a computer, the possibilities of which, compared with 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 ignore the abundance of colors, we can notice these very patterns, and they are often able to give meaning to a photograph 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 is usually nature or urban landscapes. However, sometimes it is the colors that break the integrity of the picture. In this case, before giving up the picture, you can try your luck in black and white. Experience shows that many of the functions and effects that are characteristic of photos on long exposure, very well combined with b / w, so we recommend experimenting.
It happens that the conditions are against you and natural lighting, which you can’t cope with, does not give the best result. You can (and should) use filters, flashes, reflectors and whatever you have in your arsenal, but sometimes it's enough just to remove the colors, thus hiding the flaws. 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 b/w.
Sometimes, we shoot shots that just don't have a lot of color. This happens especially often in winter - an abandoned blackened house, against the backdrop of pure snow, dry trees behind - a familiar picture? As a rule, at the stage of post-processing, when seeing such shots, the hand arbitrarily reaches for B/W, but if you give free rein to the impulse and convert the photo to black and white, the result is most often disappointing. So, if the photo is already almost colorless, it will look better in color mode than in black and white.
It is sometimes surprising how rarely the photography community pays attention to black and white HDR photos. We are all used to how spectacular HDR shots look, how they are a little exaggerated, dramatized and even voluminous. And all this is without a doubt ideal for black and white photography. Therefore, this opportunity is definitely not worth missing - 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 does not concern the shooting process itself or preparation for it, but post-processing. Once you have a finished photo in your hands, it is absolutely essential to correct the colors using the HSL panel in your image editor. You need to focus on many details and points in this, 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 not subject to time, it has always been in demand. With the advent of mass color photography, black-and-white photography attracted mostly professionals and connoisseurs for some time, but now interest in it has increased again. Many modern digital cameras have a black and white 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 shots
It is not in vain that masters of photography begin teaching their students with black and white photography: in such pictures, the composition is much more important, and all the flaws are more visible. Try to “desaturate” some ordinary “everyday” picture in a graphic editor, for sure most of it will simply turn into a gray spot. In a color shot, a red flower on a green lawn looks festive and bright, but in a black and white version it can hardly be seen - red and green colors merge.
The difference between color and black-and-white photography is not only the lack of color in the latter. A monochrome photo reveals the essence of things deeper, focusing on the most important and interesting. Black and white photography reveals lines and shapes, the emphasis is on structure, chiaroscuro, rhythm. First of all, black and white photography is emotions, personal impressions, a special view of the photographer on 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 preferred? Most often this is a portrait, nude, genre and reportage plots look great in black and white photography. But this does not mean that the landscape and still life will not look in black and white.
good color photograph, most likely, you should not translate into black and white mode. It is a well-founded color scheme that makes it attractive, and if you remove the color, then the photo will only lose from this. For example, the pictures that you brought back from your travels to exotic countries should play with color, convey the local flavor. Although a few interesting black and white shots will only decorate your photo album, they should have a completely different semantic content.
It may also happen that the color component does not fit into the overall design and overloads the picture, different color spots do not harmonize, they are too colorful. In this case, it makes sense to make the photo black and white. Therefore, do not rush to delete an unsuccessful color picture - 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 photo, you can go two ways. The first option is to take a color picture, and then get a frame in black and white in a graphics editor. The second option is to set the camera to black and white photography mode (most modern cameras allow you to do this). In the first case, you leave yourself the opportunity to return to the original color version. In addition, you have at your disposal powerful tools of modern graphic editors that give you flexible control over the process. What photographers used to do in the "dark room", developing film, experimenting with developers, printing pictures, you will now get by working with the program. In the second case, in a graphical editor, you only “stretch” the image to the desired result.
Composition
First of all, you must determine for yourself what you want to emphasize, highlight in the photo, and choose the means to achieve expressiveness accordingly. Think about whether you need to increase sharpness, contrast in order to show a courageous face in the photo or an old abandoned ship worn out by time, rain and heat, or, on the contrary, soften a gentle female or child portrait, show a “paradise” landscape in the picture.
When you think about a future black and white shot, abstract from rich and bright colors - a monochrome photo will not convey them anyway, moreover, they can merge.
It is desirable that a rich gamut of halftones be preserved in the picture. A successful photo ranges from black to pure white. Tone 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 shots, dark areas will look almost dark, so try to structure the plot in such a way as to avoid large "black holes".
If you look around with a careful eye, you can almost everywhere take an original and high-quality black and white photo. Contrasting textures, embossed and attractive shapes, patterns, rhythmic, repetitive scene details make the photograph more advantageous. When looking for interesting and contrasting graphic shapes, don't forget Golden Rule: The simpler the better. The picture should not be overloaded with unnecessary details.
Finding a plot is not difficult, just look 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 and modern buildings and structures with many architectural elements.
Beautiful stories can give you the most unexpected and ordinary things, clear and contrasting: paved pavement, reflection in a puddle, bridges, statues, trees. The main thing is that the main idea of the picture is revealed most fully and all attention is focused on it.
When shooting a portrait, try to reveal the character of a person, focus on a characteristic gesture, look, facial expressions. You can move the camera closer to your face or shoot from a distance 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 bring in originality. Experiment with camera angles.
exposition
A good black and white photograph is usually a quality work of a photographer. First of all, the exposure must be set very accurately so that the scene is rendered with smooth tonal transitions, and the picture does not turn out dark or too light, unless, of course, this is part of your plan.
Lighting in photography in general 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 you should pay attention to. When working with light, you need to use metering correctly. Carefully study the camera manual, get acquainted 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 shot, but in black and white mode you will get a frame devoid of volume and dynamics. Set center-weighted metering to increase contrast and brightness. Using spot metering will give your shots harsh transitions and shadows.
If you decide to take a silhouette shot, then measure the exposure for the highlights of the scene, then, if necessary, while holding the shutter button down halfway, recompose the shot. Then the dark details will turn out almost black. Do not measure the exposure for the shadow areas of the scene, so as not to get a bright, low-contrast and overexposed frame.
Different times of the day give different lighting, light pattern, giving more expressiveness to the picture, placing accents on the form, texture, tone. You can get a different perception of the same scene, made at different times of the day in different lighting conditions.
The lower the ISO you set on your digital camera, the clearer and better the picture will be. The photo will be detailed, "smooth". With increasing sensitivity, as you know, noise increases and a characteristic graininess appears, which causes much less damage to black and white images than to color ones. Grain brings its artistic value to the picture, hard grainy photos have a special appeal. The same effect can be simulated in a graphics editor by applying the appropriate filters.
Light filters
In order to take a good black and white photograph, to achieve more expressiveness, to correct some inaccuracies that are often indispensable, and to increase emphasis, it is sometimes useful to use filters. Without filters, the picture may appear too bright or too dark, and details may disappear. For example, in the sky, clouds can turn into flat, indistinct spots, or colored objects can blend into the background in a black and white photograph. A light filter can make an individual tone either lighter or darker, you can achieve an increase or decrease in 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 enhance or remove glare. A light yellow filter will lighten green foliage and grass in daylight, and the blue sky will darken a little, it will work well in the photo, and the clouds against this background will look accentuated white. The orange filter in sunny weather emphasizes the shape of the clouds, in cloudy weather it increases the contrast, the sky becomes more saturated.
When shooting under artificial light (incandescent), reds are lighter and blues are darker. In this case, blue-green, 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 graphic editor.
It also doesn't hurt to experiment with different effects. For example, sepia toning (old buildings, old streets will look good), apply solarization, etc. After all, the possibilities of modern software are huge. The result is only limited by your imagination.
Features of shooting landscapes
When shooting a landscape in black and white, try to convey the infinity of the sky in the picture, bizarre clouds, leave most of the frame area to the sky. Do not be afraid of gloomy cloudy weather - this is not a reason to refuse shooting, even in bad weather you can find and shoot amazing scenes. Try to balance your composition. For example, grass, shrubs, trees against the background of water or metal, wooden structures against the sky will look contrasting.
When shooting a black and white landscape, try to darken the blue color of the sky a little and increase the contrast. Try to crouch and take off from a low point, or find a high point and grab more space. Large stones, a river running over stones, rocks, lonely dried trees are well transmitted.
When shooting a landscape, it is very interesting to get a high-contrast shot, this can be done on a bright sunny day. One way to take such a photo is to shoot against the sun. Of course, you shouldn't aim your lens directly at the sun - you'll just damage the camera's sensor. You need to move the lens a little so that direct sunlight does not enter the lens. The hood will help get rid of bright glare. You can also choose a shooting point and position yourself so that there is a shooting object between you and the sun - a tree trunk, a human figure, a sail of a yacht. This object, blocking the sun, will give a contrasting picture.
About technology
Don't get carried away with the purely technical side of things, looking for the "best" camera or the "best" lens. Learn to make emotional, interesting, vivid shots with the equipment at your disposal.
By itself, black and white photography does not require expensive equipment, the usual compact camera or entry-level DSLRs. To get the best result and have full control over the shooting process, of course, it is best to have reflex camera. If you don’t know which 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, turning into a moderate telephoto on digital SLRs. The high aperture of the lens is a big advantage, especially in low light conditions.
Also useful will be a tripod, remote remote control or a pull cord.
The main thing is that the shooting itself, the search for interesting stories bring pleasure. A rich imagination, the ability to "see", the desire to photograph, a lot of practice, visiting exhibitions and galleries - this is the basis of success. Together with the study of photography, all this will bring interesting and original pictures. There is always something to strive for, and no one bothers you to take better pictures than the masters.
Features of black and white shots
Great photographers begin teaching their students with the intricacies of black and white photography. This is due to the fact that in such pictures the composition is very important, so all the flaws are visible at a glance. To make sure of this, you need to “desaturate” the usual “everyday” picture in a regular graphic editor, you can be more than sure that most of the photo will be covered with gray spots. If we consider a color photograph 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 there is no color. Thanks to monochrome shots, you can reveal the essence of things more deeply, while focusing on the most interesting and most important. Thanks to black and white photography, shapes and lines can be revealed, focusing on rhythm, chiaroscuro and structure. In the foreground of monochrome shots are impressions, emotions. It is for this reason that black and white photographs have a completely different approach, therefore, for a monochrome version, the colors of the world around you need to be seen in your own way.
And 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 scenes also look very good in black and white photography. But this does not mean that still life and landscape will not look in black and white.
A good color photo probably shouldn't be converted to black and white. It is a well-founded color scheme that makes it attractive, and if you remove the color, then the photo will only lose from this. For example, the pictures that you brought back from your travels to exotic countries should play with color, convey the local flavor. Although a few interesting black and white shots will only decorate your photo album, they should have a completely different semantic content.
It may also happen that the color component does not fit into the overall design and overloads the picture, different color spots do not harmonize, they are too colorful. In this case, it makes sense to make the photo black and white. Therefore, do not rush to delete an unsuccessful color picture - 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 photo, you can go two ways. The first option is to take a regular color picture, which is converted to 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 version. In addition, you have at your disposal powerful tools of modern graphic editors that give you flexible control over the process. What photographers used to do in the "dark room", developing film, experimenting with developers, printing pictures, you will now get by working with the program. In the second case, in a graphical editor, you only “stretch” the image to the desired result.
Composition
First of all, you must determine for yourself what you want to emphasize, highlight in the photo, and choose the means to achieve expressiveness accordingly. Think about whether you need to increase sharpness, contrast in order to show a courageous face in the photo or an old abandoned ship worn out by time, rain and heat, or, on the contrary, soften a gentle female or child portrait, show a “paradise” landscape in the picture.
When you think about a future black and white shot, abstract from rich and bright colors - a monochrome photo will not convey them anyway, moreover, they can merge.
It is desirable that a rich gamut of halftones be preserved in the picture. A successful photo ranges from black to pure white. Tone 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 shots, dark areas will look almost dark, so try to structure the plot in such a way as to avoid large "black holes".
If you look around with a careful eye, you can almost everywhere take an original and high-quality black and white photo. Contrasting textures, embossed and attractive shapes, patterns, rhythmic, repetitive scene details make the photograph more advantageous. When looking for interesting and contrasting graphic shapes, 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 competently take monochrome pictures, what technologies are available for this, what you need to consider and what to 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 main postulates, based on which, each professional photographer trying 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 overwhelming effect that classic B&W photography has on me, and I guess I'm not alone.
Black and white photography is one of the most interesting and inspiring trends in photography. The monochrome image marked the beginning of the entire photography industry: with the development of technology, cameras and methods for obtaining photographs have improved. The Frenchman Louis Jacques Daguerre in the distant 1839 obtained the first stable photographic image and later called such images daggerotypes. In the same nineteenth century, James Maxwell proposed to the world a way to obtain a color photograph. 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, the processes of photography were simplified even at the end of the 20th century. People have stepped into the digital age.
How to learn to shoot black and white photos: the secrets of professionals.
See the world in B&W.
Most of the general advice on how to compose or structure a good shot applies exactly 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 trained their brains to instantly visually assess a space to imagine it without color saturation. Imagine how the picture will turn out even before the camera shutter clicks. But such a skill cannot be acquired in short term. I can’t 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. Only practice and constant effort is the right 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 choose 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 black and white photographer, you simply have to know more about contrast, see it, feel it. And with his help, to reveal to the viewer the essence of their pictures, their intention, to reflect important details. Always look for scenes/plots that are replete with high contrast characters, and then your black and white photographs will be irresistible a priori.
If your footage doesn't make the right impression initially, then using Photoshop's processing techniques such as manipulating levels, curves, etc., will turn the shots into contrasting photographs. In other words, do not give up at first glance on inexpressive images, because modern technologies allow you to improve the quality of the original frames.
Focus on texture.
Texture is in many ways a form of contrast. If you think about it, a texture is a pattern of shadows and highlights with varying intensities. Color usually introduces its own changes into the texture (according to the perception by the human eye), so to speak, leaves its mark, like a filter behind which it manifests itself differently. Different shades can mask subtle, subtle textures, or enhance them. In black and white photographs, it carries new information. Therefore, look for areas with interesting texture, which may be masked by bright colors. It often plays the role of leading lines, serves as a good background for designating the main artistic object. Have you noticed how B/W photographs that include sheds, wooden fences or antiques are irresistible(?). This is because the objects are full of texture, traces of the past, antiquity.
By sitting down at a computer to invert images to monochrome, you can "pull"/develop texture from near-smooth, rough-free surfaces. In digital photography, blues and reds tend to contain more noise than greens, so using tools like the channel mixer and black and white adjustment levels in Photoshop will really emphasize/enhance the textures.
Take pictures in color.
This item is primarily aimed at photographers who use in their arsenal digital cameras(for example, DSLR). If your device provides the ability to switch to the photo shooting mode in black and white in the Menu settings, then try never to use it. In fact, by applying 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 be the owner of a file on your flash card that has irretrievably lost a huge part of the color information, i.e. "lost weight." Not without reason, the pictures taken in b&w. and in the color of the same space, they will be different in weight, or rather, a monochrome image will become “lighter” by hundreds of kilobytes due to the loss of data on the color environment. Thus, by turning on the mode on the camera " black and white photography”, you limit your post-processing capabilities.
However, my categoricalness in this matter can play a cruel joke with you. And you, having taken good advice, will strictly follow it. But the camera function to receive b&w a photo very useful. I'll explain why. If you want to use this mode in order to preview/see what the scene looks like without color, then this is quite justified. This will help you identify how good the black and white pictures you are going to capture are! But be sure to switch back and shoot in color, and then finalize the plot 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 pictures in Raw format because they don’t know how to do it and don’t understand the advantages, for example, of RAW over JPEG. Or maybe they basically don’t shoot in the Raw format because they don’t like it and the labor costs associated with it. But most photo artists see undeniable advantages in the subsequent work with RAW files. Therefore, if you strive to get great 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 on tips for creating black and white photos ...
Sincerely, photographer Evgeniy Shterbets.
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