Surely with the amount of images that we observe daily, by now you have seen many black and white photographs. It is also likely that you have tried to do this type of photography because you have seen the magic, the essence and the elegance that black and white has, and also because, nowadays, monochrome photography is within the reach of almost anyone with a Smartphone or a fairly modern digital camera.
Now, perhaps you thought that black and white photography was something easy, that the images were better “only” by turning them into monochrome, more transcendent, more interesting… And surely if you have tried it several times, you will have noticed realize that this is not the case, or at least not always. And that’s because black and white photography doesn’t always look good, it rarely improves a bad photo, and it doesn’t always “fit” everything. Now, it’s not that difficult if you know where to look 😉 for this reason, in the following lines I’ll leave you what I consider to be basic so you can get started in black and white photography obtaining great results. And if you want to delve deeper, be sure to go through our mega guide where you will find all the extended information with lots of tips and tricks for black and white photography.
Learn to see in black and white
This abstraction exercise is basic and at the same time it is the most complicated to achieve. requires practice and dedicationbut it is available to everyone. Just try to consider before taking the picture how the result will be in black and white. Do not just take it “thinking in color” and then turn it into black and white, because if you have thought of it in color, it is likely that it will not respond as well when converted to monochrome.
Shoot in RAW or color
It may seem like an oxymoron to want an image in black and white and shoot it in color instead of in black and white as most cameras offer us, but the truth is that the conversion to monochrome from a RAW file (or alternatively in color ) hold much more information tonal (much more) than the black and white programs of the cameras contain. This basically translates into a richer and more complete image with more processing possibilities.
Take care of the composition
Just like you always try to do, but even more 😉 By stripping the images of color, the gaze focuses on the shapes and their arrangement on the image plane; in short, in the composition. That is why it is important that you decide what elements you want to include in the scene, and What you want to place them, and although there is never a guaranteed formula in photography, there are some compositional tricks that are good friends with black and white images, here are some:
- lines and abstract shapes and therefore architecture with all its architectural elements: buildings, stairs, benches, etc. Paths, train lines, vanishing points, tree trunks…
- negative space or that space without information that we leave around our center of interest. Here is a detailed article on the subject. And if you need a healthy dose of inspiration, check out our weekly black and white negative space challenge.
play with contrast
Contrast is a good ally of black and white photography, as it can help us enhance, in certain cases, the strength and character of the image or convey softness.
- High and/or low key photos. To transmit darkness and mystery and light and joy, as you prefer, the important thing, as always, is to transmit 😉
- High or low contrast photos
textures
Another good ally of monochrome photography. The “rough” or soft textures of different materials such as wood, the wrinkles on a face, rocks eroded by time, or the softness of the skin of a newborn. All textures become more relevant by stripping the color image.
Noise or sharpness?
The noise is directly associated with the ISO at which you are working. In general terms, we say that at higher ISO, more sensitivity but also more noise, and on the contrary, at lower ISO, less sensitivity (we will have to shoot at slower speeds) but less noise. In black and white, noise is one more artistic element that you can include or take advantage of in your images. However, perhaps the safest way to work with noise is to do it in post-processing. To a clear image it is easy to add noise, but to one with noise it is more complicated to leave it sharp 😉
Work and meet the light
It is essential in all types of photography. Beyond any other advice you may read, it doesn’t matter if you like fashion, landscape, portrait or street-photography. control the light it is essential, knowing how to play with it and knowing the behavior of your camera with respect to it is what will give you great photographs and allow you to adapt to any situation.
For this it is very important to know how to use the histogram of your camera. With it you will learn to expose properly in any situation, to know where to measure the light, and over time, to know how to predict the result without even looking at the screen of your camera 😉
And speaking of correct exposures… Trying to “fix” an image underexposed it’s always tricky, but in black and white it’s even more so, unless you love noise, because it’s very difficult to rescue an underexposed black and white image without generating a excess noise. So pay special attention to light when shooting in monochrome.
- The message: You always have to try to make the images speak, to catch us in the story. A simple play of light it can tell one story or another completely different depending on the metering point or the exposure. From the purest to the darkest, from the most mysterious to the most obvious. You can get pretty much anything you want by dominating the light in the scene:
- backlights
- Shades
- Hard or diffuse lights
gray scale
Each tone of the color image has a translation to the gray scale that makes up a black and white photograph. Knowing in a general way what tones the image will be translated to when converting it from color to black and white, will give you an idea of the image you are going to obtain, and even help you decide before taking the image if it is a good candidate for the image. conversion.
post-processing
Mastering image processing is essential to get the results you want. A good base (exposure, focus, framing, composition, etc.) together with good processing are the perfect combination to obtain the image you want.
- Filters: Filters included in image processing programs such as Adobe Camera RAW, Lightroom or Photoshop, allow you to control the entire tonal range of the image, darkening or lightening the tones of the image.
- Contrast
- brightness or exposure
- Noise
Topics
Any subject is a good candidate to be photographed in black and white, from fashion to nature through documentary or architectural photography. However, there are subjects in which the use of black and white is more ingrained.
- documentary photography
- street-photography
- Architecture
- abstract
- Fashion
Practice, practice and practice
Any tips and tricks you may read are nothing if you don’t practice them, because there is no other way to learn to master black and white. There is no way of knowing what will look good, what will convey what; there is no other way to learn to see in black and white. And it would be a shame to waste its potential, its ability to transmit, its artistic component just for not trying, don’t you think?
If you are passionate about photography, this is not a great challenge, so get to work 🙂
I hope the article has been useful to you, if so, share it so that someone else can benefit from it (Google+, Facebook or Twitter) Thank you very much and until next time!