Nothing in the world looks like black and white photography . There are black and white photos that take your breath away, that upset you, in a good way. Today I am going to talk to you about this photographic «genre» in depth, and as usual, I will leave you with some other advice to improve your next black and white photographs.
Sony Alpha photographer
WHY IS BLACK AND WHITE SO COOL?
There is something in black and white photography, different from other types of photography, which fascinates us, a certain "magic" that we do not find in color photography. Black and white never goes out of style, it is how photography was originally born, and although it has evolved, it has improved its technique, its color, its resolution, its 3D, its I don't know what, black and white is still the incontestable king to whom we all profess unconditional admiration.
I don't know what it will have, the truth is that black and white photography has a number of advantages that color photography can hardly match:
Versatility: Any type of photography is likely to be a good black and white shot. If black and white is cool you can apply it to portraits, landscapes, children's photography, Macro, architecture, or animals. Not only that, also black and white sticks well with almost any type of lighting. Color photos usually require good lighting while black and white photos give good results even in low light conditions.
Avoid color distractions: Colors are a double-edged sword. They embellish and enhance a photograph but sometimes they can play a distracting role, confusing the viewer and diverting their attention from the main message that the photograph tries to convey. Sometimes even the main subject loses prominence because of the amount of colors in a photo.
It transmits a greater emotional load: If something has black and white photos is its ability to convey emotions and feelings sincerely. Black and white portraits are more authentic, more natural. Black and white looks say much more than color. Black and white contains an air of nostalgia, a drama and a force that the viewer perceives very easily. In color it costs more.
It helps improve the composition: Color is often guilty that many photographers neglect very important aspects of the composition. Eliminating color allows us to focus on the composition through its aspects: contrast, shapes, framing, textures, etc.
Asturian girl
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
Here are some tips for you to start producing your first jobs in black and white.
1- Learn to detect the candidate photo for Black and White: Not all photos are good in black and white. By dispensing with color, you lose an important leg of the composition, and you want that not to be noticed. You need to develop your "photographic eye" to detect possible frames, compositions and subjects that can be better black and white. It costs at the beginning, but as you do black and white exercises, then when checking the final result you start educating yourself little by little about which photos are valid for black and white and which ones are not.
2- Shoot in Color: Do you think it's contradictory? It is not. At the time of analog cameras, it was necessary to decide which film or reel to use, whether color or black and white. With digital photography you can shoot your photographs calmly in color, all of them, and later convert to black and white those that interest you. The recommendation to shoot in color is because, once the photo has been converted to black and white you can always regret it and return the color if you wish. If you shoot directly in black and white from the camera and later decide to recover the color, what do you do?
3- Shoot in RAW: Most digital SLR cameras (I think all) allow shooting in RAW. Unlike the JPG, the RAW allows to preserve all the properties of the image, being able to later play with all its attributes during the post-processing in the computer, increase its exposure, reduce it, modify the white balance , change the contrast, and a series of properties that will help you improve your black and white photo. Shooting a photo in JPG "blocks" all these properties and we could no longer modify them, or not so much. ( Here is a video example of the possibilities that RAW mode allows).
4- Beware of ISO noise: You probably know this already, but it should be stressed There are situations where the lack of light forces us to raise the camera's ISO value. This has a more or less acceptable amount of noise, but be careful, ISO noise is much more visible in black and white photos. When playing only with black and white (and intermediate degrees of gray) it is easier to notice the noise produced by the high ISO. So if you have to raise the ISO do it, but very carefully.
5 - Take advantage of cloudy days: Gray, cloudy, rainy days, and that at first glance seem unfit for an outdoor photo shoot are in the background an exquisite opportunity to capture amazing black and white photos. I guess it will have to do with the nature of black and white photos, usually sad, emotional, melancholic or dramatic. Gray days are the perfect ally for this type of photography, because they create a dark and mysterious setting ideal for this type of photos.
Dreams of Sapa (Vietnam)6- Take care of the Composition: What I had been commenting before, lacking color, black and white photography is supported by other elements such as composition, contrast between light and dark subjects, tones, shapes or silhouettes, repetitive textures and patterns. That's why I told you that not all photos are perfect candidates for black and white. The black and white photo cannot be a "normal" photo, it has to impact and attract attention.
THINGS THAT STICK WITH BLACK AND WHITE
There are situations, objects, things and people with whom using black and white is a guaranteed success. If you want to venture into this type of photography I recommend you start with one of these themes.
- Children
- Grandparents
- Old tools
- Rain, fog, autumn, winter ...
- Silhouettes with high contrast of light and dark
3 TRICKS FOR «THE DOUREST ONES»
What you have read of the article should already give you clues to get good black and white photographs , but if you know how to handle with ease in the processing of the photos in RAW here is a series of 3 tricks that will further improve your results in white and black:
Increase contrast: Black and white photos with greater contrast produce greater impact on the receiver. Increasing the contrast will multiply that dramatic effect of the photo.
Apply vignetting: Vignetting is that dark blurred frame that surrounds the photo by the sides. It helps to focus attention on the main subject and helps increase the emotional burden of photography. Being the usual black vignetting, it is an ideal resource to combine with this type of photography.
A little HDR ?: In case you don't know what it is or how it is achieved, I have an article dedicated to the HDR technique . This technique combined with black and white produces simply spectacular results. To make it work you need the photo to contain elements of wood, metal, or that the portrait is of someone. You get better results like that.
The reader
That's it. I hope with this article I have brought you a little closer to the world of black and white photography. Remember that practicing is how you learn best. Do not stop practicing.
Thank you.
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