Black and white photography is timelessly beautiful. It lets the viewer focus on the story without getting distracted by any colours that may be too dominant and shadow the subject or the story.
Shooting in black and white is not so easy as it seems – it is not just about removing the colours from the image, but about having a range of tones that will make the subject stand out and make the image very compelling or effective.
“With black and white, what you have to say counts more than the way you say it.” – Gian Marco Marano
When shooting black and white images, it is always good to shoot in colour and then convert the image to black and white, but for that, one should learn to see in black and white. In order to create a great black and white image, there need to be contrasts between the lights and darks and the photographer needs to have a good understanding of tonality.
Note that distinct colours do not always convert to distinct tones when converted to black and white, but tweaking the luminance values may help.
An example is in the illustrations below, which are discussed in articles in the “Further Reading” section below.
Here are 25 black and white images that seem surreal and emotive and these images will inspire you to shoot black and white if you do not do that already.
If you have shot black and white photos before or converted your colour images to black and white, but were disappointed with the results, we would recommend you to check out this useful eBook, “Better Black And White” by Photzy. It is a complete step-by-step guide to convert your images to beautiful black and whites.
Experienced photographers will look at a photo or a scene and will know if it will work well in black and white. Learning to see a scene in black and white is important in order to capture the right images and get stunning results. If you want to quickly dive into black and white photography, this simple easy-to-follow eBook, “Better Black And White” by Photzy covers everything you need to know about producing your own powerful share-worthy black and white images.
Black and white photography is an art, but some photographers often think that converting an image to black and white often happens at the click of a button or by just bringing the saturation slider to the lowest value. That is not true and some tweaking is required to get the best results. Whether you are using Lightroom, Photoshop, Elements or any other software, this eBook “Better Black And White” by Photzy has enough information to help you achieve the great results with the software you already have.
