A lack of Color

Decades of black and white photography have proven that the absence of color can create the most stunning images. Achieving success in this area of photography is no easy feat, but these 3 Tips should help you in the road to success.

Black and White Tip #1: Compose with Black and White in mind but shoot in Color

It has been said that the best black and white photos are taken when the photographer deliberately sets out with black and white images in mind. This change in mindset, imagining your image without colour and seeing it for its lines and shapes, shadows and contrasts, greatly affects the photographer’s approach towards composition. With this mindset, you will ignore the glorious sunset in the horizon, and instead, concentrate on the rock formations by the shore.

Now for the other half of the tip. Cameras today often offer a black and white option— don’t use it unless you just want to preview the shot you want to take in monochrome. Post-processing can give you better results.

Black and White Tip #2: Use the Light Right

In black and white photography, the golden hours of shooting (dusk and dawn) are usually ignored. In fact, some set out to shoot during midday— more contrast this way. And when you’re shooting black and white you want all that contrast!

Direct lighting (shooting directly toward the sun) emphasizes structures set against the sky and could create very powerful silhouettes.

Side lighting accentuates subject’s features, textures especially. This is handy in shooting old people, with their wrinkles and all. Tonal variances is top priority in this type of photography because you can’t count on colors to set elements apart from each other.

Black and White Tip #3: Find the Right Subject

Set out to find a subject that can stand without color. These could be items that are usually ‘washed out’ by color, or those that will benefit the play of light and shade. A good place to start is a subject with patterns or shapes— these usually result to an abstract feel to an image. And as mentioned in the previous tip, go for the ones with a lot of texture.

All in the Eye

These tips, if you’ve noticed, concentrate mostly on creative approach, because shooting monochromes doesn’t really require much technical expertise. In black and white photography, it’s not how you use your camera, it’s the way you see your subject… And often, that is more difficult than figuring out a bunch of camera controls.

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