It takes a lot of experience and creative vision to visualize the beauty in mono-chromatic world of black and white photography. And it takes equally sound technique to capture awesome variety of these images. Here are 10 tips to help you get started with black and white photography for creating mood, interest and ultimate masterpieces.

1. Learn To Envision In Grayscale

   The first thing to get started with black and white photography is the mono-chromatic visualization. Learn to see and admire the beauty in greyscale before picking up the camera. Get inspiration from the black and white photo-galleries and look for the essence that draws your attention into the timeless world of black and white photography. The ultimate beauty lies in the creative approach of the photographer with which he draws the viewer’s attention to the masterpiece of art.

2. Shoot In Color

   With a DSLR, it is always better to shoot in RAW, color and work on the conversion to black and white during post-processing. The presence of color information allows you to use your own post-processing techniques and fine-tune the results. Shooting in color enables you to de-saturate specific colors to present a mono-tone image or use color filters to change the contrast and shades of objects of different yet equally strong colors. You can also process the image creatively to create a desaturated look. And it doesn’t end there; creativity is the only limit. Tuning the camera to B&W mode is not always the solution. The best photographs are the ones which truly utilize the power of color. Conversion during post-processing allows you to mix color channels, shift hues, de-saturate and applying color filters for more effective conversion. Watch out the tutorial for converting the color photograph to black and white here.

   

   Unlike Rectangles by Felipe Gabaldon

3. Shoot In RAW

   Call it the limitation of digital camera or the superiority of film cameras, the digital camera sensors have lower dynamic range than film. This results in a smaller tonal range than what a film gives. The digital RAW helps you overcome this limitation to a certain extent. The 12-bit or 16-bit RAW files retain greater and finer details in terms of tones, textures, gradients & shadow recovery and allows you more ground for post-processing techniques. Shooting in RAW enables you better shadow recovery and more shades of gray amongst a host of other benefits. And as long as you are shooting RAW, you can even turn on the black and white mode in the camera. It would give you a pretty accurate preview of the capture yet allow you to revert to a color version during post-processing or fine-tune in greyscale. That’s because RAW is not a photograph, it’s the image data and has to be converted to an image during post-processing (the in camera RAW photograph is only a quick thumbnail for quick preview purposes).

   

   Albany 016 by Hambo

4. Use Color Filters For Black And White

   In the days of film, it was tricky and challenging to represent the difference between two equally strong colors. The difference could only be represented by creating a contrast between these two hues. Also, as in the case with digital photography, the film cameras do not offer post-capture conversion to black & white. Thus this contrast had to be created in the actual capture by using color filters (learn more about filters here). The color filters are just a transparent colored glass. So for example, a red filter will allow more red light to enter the camera thereby increasing the brightness of the red objects (the red objects would appear brighter). In case of digital you can forget about filters as long as you are using RAW and doing the conversion during post-processing.

5. Composition Techniques

   Composition is the one of the basic elements of this colorless or mono-chromatic world. While the color photographs speak the language of colors and create interest owing to the colorful visuals, the essence of black and white photographs lies in the subtlety with which the subject or the scene is framed. It convey the emotions, create interest, add drama, create mood and attract the viewers attention by including eye leading lines, repeating patterns, real life textures and of course by following the rule of placing the subject in the thirds or ordering the elements in divine golden ratio.

   

   Eiffel Power by Gregory Bastien

6. It All Lies In The Fine Details

   The essence of black and white photography lies in capturing the physical properties of the objects in form of texture, shape, form, tones; which is possible only when you are thorough with the concept of lighting. Soft light gives extensive tones and hard(er) light enhances contrast. Angular light accentuates the textures and forms. Filling the frame with such fine details help in relating the objects to real life with subtlety of colorless impact.

   

   Black And White Petals by Sloopy989

7. Tones: Portray Seamless Shades Of Gray

   The black and white photographs create interest due to the encompassing tonal range. Even though black and white photographs are mono-chromatic, their underlying beauty lies in the grayscale imagery which is exclusively composed of shades of gray, varying from black at the lowest end to white at the highest. The tonal range helps in bringing out the softness of human skin, clouds, reflections, etc and thus work best for people & portraits and landscape scenes.

   

   Black And White Clouds by Fr Antunes

8. Contrast Sets The Mood And Tone Of The Capture

   The contrast is the difference between the highlights and the shadows. The contrast plays an important role in conveying the message and sets the tone (in terms of attitude) of the imagery; wherein a high contrast conveys strength, power and authority on one hand and the low contrast image portrays the softness and haziness. One of the best ways to bring out the contrast in the photographs is to include beautiful waterfalls, sand washed beaches, mirroring reflections, etc with lights from the proper direction to heighten the difference between the highlights and shadows.

   

   In Tribute To Ansel Adams by Alaskan Dude

9. Choose A Subject That Conveys Emotion Or Creates A Mood

   Black and white photographs are the perfect medium of portraying the sentiments and emotions. Some of the wedding photographs, childhood portraits, lonely landscapes are shot in black and white to recite the timelessness of relationships. Some of the landscape scenes which stand apart owing to the colorful sensation may look flat and dull in black and white. While the scene having an element of loneliness, nostalgia and classy touch probably qualify for black and white photographs. After all the primary element of black and white photographs is not cheerfulness or liveliness, it is the sentiments and emotions that hold you back to look at the black and white photographs.

   

   Life Is Unfair by Sylvain Latouche

10. Use The Lights To Enhance The Impact With Blacks & Whites

    Light is an integral element in any form of photography. Lights add drama to the scene on one hand and help in penetrating the depth on the other hand. In black and white photography, the tones and shades of gray vary with the variance in the direction and source of light. The theory of light which hold true for color photography only become more important in case of black and white photography.

Explore some more tips about black and white photography. Have you tried black and white photography yet? How do you go about it?

Post-processing is not the choice of purists. But if you’ve chosen to shoot in color and convert to black and white, it is a part of the deal. Welcome to the third part of the series on Black and White Photography which comes after a big pause – let’s welcome a new member in the family In part 1 we saw how classy black and white photography is. In part 2 we explored all the elements of composition in black and white photography.

To have better control for black and white processing it is advised to capture as much information as possible which we can use later to our advantage. Thus shooting in RAW and color is recommended. This allows for great flexibility in post processing. However in this particular context, shooting in color has its distinct advantages. The presence of color information allows us to alter it for our purpose and bring out the results to our preference. Let’s see how we can do so.

Converting color into black and white takes new dimensions when it comes to playing with hues and saturation. Here are the various ways you can convert into black and white.

• Basic: The easiest and the most straight forward way to convert color into black and white is to desaturate the colors in the image. This will give results identical to what the (black and white) camera sees.
• Advanced: When you have colors in your image you can artificially alter the colors to get a desired effect in contrast etc. when you alter various parameters related to color like hue and saturation.

Advanced black and white conversion

• Changing Hue: Hue is another term for color. A shifting in the hue results in different colors. With the colors manipulated the areas is the grayscale image will change colors resulting in different contrast and lightness. This gives you the flexibility and control over contrast and toning of the final grayscale image by shifting the hue in the image.
• Channel Mixing: All images are composed of three basic colors red, blue and green. When you are editing these images in the RGB mode you have access to these channels and the ability to manipulate them. This gives you the digital ability equivalent to using color filters for shooting black and white. A detailed step-by-step procedure is beyond the scope of this article and will be a suitable topic for a dedicated post.
• Toning or Changing Saturation: While we are at it it is worth mentioning that conversion to black and white doesn’t have to be complete. Certain pictures may look devoid of  mood when showcased in complete black and white. A way around is to tone down the saturation to minimum while retaining a small amount of color. You can also choose to remove color completely and bring in a low tint tint of any particular color. Sepia looks great and the options are only limited by your creativity. Sometimes toning may result introducing a mood that you never expected.

As a last note its worth mentioning that advanced conversion to black and white may introduce artifacts and make the picture seem unnatural. It is thus best to learn the basics, take your time getting used to black and white conversion and only then step into risky waters. Keep the post processing to a minimum to retain the originality in the picture and before starting, always reiterate the final effect you want to achieve.

Once you’re ready to look beyond the colors you’ll discover the beauty of the colorless world. Welcome to the second part of the Black and White Photography series. In Part I we saw how black and white photography fell a class apart from the colorful world, the kind of challenges black and white photography poses and a brief introduction to looking beyond colors.

When shooting in black and white it is essential that you have a solid foundation on the very basics of photography, explore creatively, learn and then experiment. This post covers and summarizes various features and elements that you can highlight in your photographs to achieve the target results and draw viewers attention to your work. Most of these can broadly be classified into three components – composition, details and effects. Let’s get familiar with features and elements that you can highlight in black and whites.

1. Black & White Photography and Composition

   It is all about what you capture in the shot, what you choose to highlight and what you choose to leave out. Your viewpoint and what you frame – all is a part of composition.

   • Simplicity: Too much clutter distracts attention from the subject. Simplicity aids viewers’ interest and brings elegance to the picture.
   • Rule of thirds: The rule of thirds guides you on how to place the subject at naturally pleasing positions in the frame to draw more interest and attention from viewers.
   • The Golden Ratio: Just like the rule of thirds, the golden ration is another rule that guides you on positioning the subject such that the areas in the image form pleasing proportions and add a sense of natural balance to the picture.
   • Lines: Lines lead the eyes. Vertical lines convey strength. Horizontal lines convey balance. Diagonal lines guide the eye and curves emphasize sensuality.
   • Framing: Adding a natural frame to the image adds depth to the otherwise two dimensional view.
   • Perspective: Perspective helps draw a lot of interest as it allows viewers to explore and appreciate the subject from newer viewpoints.

2. Gain Appreciation for black & white photographs by Capturing Details

   • Shades and Tones: Shades and tones are what the colors are in colored images. Shades and tones add definition to the image and various areas of the picture while developing an overall mood of the scene.
   • Patterns: Patterns steal interest, can form the mood of the picture, emphasize energy and hypnotize the viewers. Used judiciously they are a very strong tool and make excellent subjects. However generally when not forming the main subject they are often distracting at the best.
   • Shapes: Shapes distribute energy, create or offset the balance. They make excellent abstractions.
   • Textures: Textures add fineness, sharpness and detail to the image.

3. Introduce Effects for awesome black & white photographs

   • Depth of Field: A narrow depth of field helps eliminate the subject from the background and introduces softness in the image. A high depth of field adds sharpness to the overall image.
   • Blur: Blur emphasizes motion. Generally avoided, when intentionally introduced in the image a slight blur in the river water would liven up the image and add the perception of flowing water in the otherwise frozen waves and water reflections.
   • Filters: Filter effects are often used to transform particular colors to shades and help distinguish various areas while adding definition to the image.
   • Silhouettes: Silhouettes make excellent abstractions and create a strong mood in the image. The subject is totally black with a background light blinding the camera lens.
   • Exposure: Overexposure and underexposure bring out details from the otherwise overshadowed or washed out areas at the cost of loosing details visible to the naked eye. They create some unique effects when used creatively.
   • Quality of Light: A hard or soft light is often used to emphasize the mood, defining shapes and figures or highlighting the various areas of the subject.
   • Direction of Light: Direction of light can help you highlight texture or create impressions of horror or mystery.
   • Vignette Frames: Vignette frames redirect the attention to the subject and add a classy touch to the picture.
   • Contrast: Contrast is the difference between the highlights and the shadows. A higher contrast forms a clearer image wherein various elements in the scene are clearly stand out. A lower contrast creates a softer image but also increases the risk of losing out a lot of tones and shades.
   • Transparency: Transparency emphasize clarity and purity while making interesting subjects.
   • Reflections and shadows: Reflections allude and hypnotize while shadows form abstract figures and form the mood of the picture.
   • HDR: High dynamic range while visually captivating captures and retains more tones and shades than a regular image. They look more natural and life-like.
   • Digital Manipulation: Other digital effects like image-overlays make abstract forms, moods or relations between the two overlays. It doesn’t even have to be black and white; desaturating the colors to the minimum while leaving a touch of hue created different mood depending on the hue. So experiment and break the rules.

While this list is not exhaustive it certainly highlights the fact that there’s lot beyond the colors which the human eye appreciates. Effectively photographing keeping in mind the above elements and guidelines will certainly get you some outstanding results.

Continue to part 3.

Black and white photography — An Introduction

The language of grays is classy, timeless, moody, artistic and captivating. Black and white pictures draw a lot of viewers’ interest, attention and reaction. Color photographs tend to be boring at times because they are the same what our eyes see day and night. Unlike color photographs, black and white photographs speak a different language – they portray the same information in a different style and draw our eyes to elements and traits that our eyes don’t generally notice. They take out the dimension of color and showcase light, tones, texture, mood and time in a prominent manner. Of all these traits, the lack of color and the timelessness in black and white photographs capture the interest of even the ignoramus. Let’s delve into the colorless world in this part-I of a two part article.

Getting ready to sacrifice colors (visualize Black and White)

This can be difficult for some. Especially if you are starting out. Black and white may just not appeal to you or you may like color better. Also visualizing in black and white is challenging and comes with experience. With digital capture it’s a matter of seeing the final results instantly. However there is greater difference between the reality and the results when shooting film. However this assessment need not be left to the camera. It is important to know what you want in the final result and what you are going for. Choose your location and subject accordingly. In black and white there’s no color to mark and differentiate between different areas in the image. Also two contrasting colors will result in the same gray level in the final print. It is thus important to start seeing in terms of luminance (brightness or lightness) or various colors and areas in the image instead of chroma or color. So if I may, let me mention the RGB and HSL color-spaces here.

All image information can be represented in either of these color-spaces however there’s a considerable difference the way these color-spaces represent information. In the RGB color-space all image information is represented in terms of the red, green and blue colors. All other colors are a combination of two or more of these three basic components. In a gray (black and white) image all these three components are equal. Thus RGB is not very helpful if we try to draw analogy with respect to black and white images. HSL is another color-space which represents image-information in terms of hue (the color), saturation (the amount of color) and luminance (the brightness). When it comes to black and white, only the luminance component matters in the HSL color-space. We thus need to visualize in terms of lightness or brightness of the color instead of the color itself.

Once you are ready to look beyond colors you will be able to appreciate subtler qualities like geometry, shapes, textures, tones and the mood. It is these qualities that build the interest in the picture and convey a message. Thus it is important to have a firm understanding of the basics like composition, exposure etc.

Considerations in digital black and white capture

With digital capture there are more technicalities to consider than while shooting film. One important decision to make is whether you want to shoot black and white or whether you want to shoot in color and do the conversion as a part of post processing. Manual conversion during post processing can be and overhead but allows great flexibility in differentiating and manipulating tones based of color. Whereas levels are pretty much all that you can play around while post-processing black and whites.

Filters add another aspect to black and white photography. The principle behind the use of color filters is simple – a filter allows a certain color to pass through while blocking others totally or partially. Thus as an example a yellow filter will block a lot of the color of sky thereby darkening the sky in the final result. It will also enhance the yellow areas in the picture whereby brightening them up into almost white. That’s quite as simple as it gets. A judicious use of correct filters can aid you in differentiating different tones based on the real colors in the original scene or subject.

It is also important to decide on the image format which you want to shoot in.

Conclusion

Black and white images put a photographer’s skills to test. Black and white images are classy and are appreciated as art masterpieces by the connoisseurs. It is thus important to understand the basics and essentials. As we shall see in the second part, it is of prime importance that we look beyond colors and expand upon the photography basics to communicate in the language of texture, shapes, composition, tones and moods. Also we will briefly touch upon conversion to grayscale as a part of post-processing the digitals in the second and final episode.

Continue to part 2.