Black And White Photography Tips - 4 Tips For How To Take Good Photos
These tips will help you be able to recognize good black and white photo opportunities and to be able to photograph and edit them for the best results.
The reason so many photography courses and schools teach black and white photography early on is that it is an excellent way to train the eye to recognize what makes a striking composition.
As amazingly beautiful as a colorful sky may be, it is the lines, shapes and curves that move the eye through the photo. So while the colors can be quite beautiful, black and white makes the photo more dynamic.
Despite all of its benefits, black and white photography became less popular in the 70's and 80's because of the popularity of color. It soon became difficult to find places to process black and white film, and stores didn't always carry it. Now thanks to digital cameras and editing, black and white is back!
How to Recognize Stunning Black and White Photographs
Although choosing the best subjects for black and white is very subjective, many professional photographers will agree that the following types of compositions beg for black and white:
- Photos that convey strong emotion. Color can be a distraction, while black and white lends power to the feeling expressed.
- Images that don't have a full spectrum of colors like Ansel Adam's Yosemite "Moon and Half Dome."
- Low contrast images such as photographs shot on dark overcast days.
- Any subject with the lines, contours, shadows and curves that you just know will look great in black and white. How can you tell? By studying black and white photos! Search online for Ansel Adams work. Or you can just search for "famous black and white photos."
- Look at B&W photography books at the library. There are many places to appreciate and learn this artful form of photography!
Create Black & White Photography with a Photo Editor
Once you see a subject and know it would like best in black and white, then you can always set your camera to B&W and take it. But once you get experience with using your photo editing software, you'll find that you can create even better black and white images by shooting in color first and then desaturating it in the editor. Another benefit to this method is that you'll never end up with a day's worth of pictures all in black and white because you forgot to reset the camera!
Check the White Balance on Your Camera
While the easiest and simplest way to use your photo editor to change a color image to black and white is to desaturate the colors, this method doesn't allow you to control how the primary colors work together to produce a grayscale brightness. If you have good white balance in your picture, then simple desaturation may be all you need to do in the software editor.
Make Use of Your Photo Editor's Color Swatches
By using a photo editor, you can also apply color swatches. Even though we don't see the colors in black and white, there are tones, and these are created by colors. Color swatches work much the same way as color lenses do on an SLR camera. For example, filters in the yellow to orange range are flattering to the skin while green creates nice tones for nature pictures.
And last but not least, don't forget to share your favorite black and white photographs. Black and white photos look great framed and deserve to be on the wall for all to see. Choose frames that showcase rather than distract from your black and whites with simple clean lines. Black and white pictures look especially good framed in silver picture frames, gold picture frames and even black picture frames depending upon the style of the image. Hopefully, this article has inspired you to take more black and white photographs!
Two Nature & Wildlife Photography Tips
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Photographic Prints of Boats at Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island from Robert Harding £7.99 10x8 Print, Boats at Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island. Boats at Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island, Unst, Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe. Chosen by Robert Harding. Printed on 254x203mm Fuji Crystal Archive paper for stable image permanence and brilliant colour reproduction with smooth tones, enhanced sharpness, and excellent definition. Size refers to paper ... |
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Photographic Prints of Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) tip, Cathedral Grove, MacMillan from Robert Harding £7.99 10x8 Print, Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) tip, Cathedral Grove, MacMillan. Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) tip, Cathedral Grove, MacMillan Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada, North America. Chosen by Robert Harding. Printed on 254x203mm Fuji Crystal Archive paper for stable image permanence and brilliant colour reproduction with smooth tones, enhanced sharpness, and exce... |
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500/6,3 DX Tele Mirror Lens for Sigma When using on digital SLR (e.g. Sigma SD14) a SUPERTELE with an equivalent focal distance of 800mm results due to the extension of the focal distance by 1.6! (Or rather 1600mm with optional 2x converter) The walimex 500/6.3DX Mirror Tele Lens has a focal distance of 500mm and a good speed of 1:6.3. The sturdy metal housing and the high-quality workmanship and mechanics ensure a good image qualit... |
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Photo Jigsaw Puzzle of Boats on shore of Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island from Robert Harding £17.99 Photo Jigsaw, Boats on shore of Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island. Boats on shore of Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island, Unst, Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe. Chosen by Robert Harding. Bespoke 300 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle 17x12 (43x30cm). The jigsaw is delivered bagged and on a back board making a superb gift. Also supplied are a re-sealable bag, a photo example o... |
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Photo Jigsaw Puzzle of Boats at Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island from Robert Harding £17.99 Photo Jigsaw, Boats at Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island. Boats at Nor Wick on the northeast tip of the island, Unst, Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe. Chosen by Robert Harding. Bespoke 300 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle 17x12 (43x30cm). The jigsaw is delivered bagged and on a back board making a superb gift. Also supplied are a re-sealable bag, a photo example of the image and a ... |
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Photo Jigsaw Puzzle of West Bay at the western tip of Roatan from Robert Harding £17.99 Photo Jigsaw, West Bay at the western tip of Roatan. West Bay at the western tip of Roatan, largest of the Bay Islands, Honduras, Caribbean, Central America. Chosen by Robert Harding. Bespoke 300 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle 17x12 (43x30cm). The jigsaw is delivered bagged and on a back board making a superb gift. Also supplied are a re-sealable bag, a photo example of the image and a self assemble flat pac... |
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