Black and white photography.

I often hear around me that this is a difficult thing for many people. But despite that, it lives! Take a look around here on the always active #monomad challenge. Every day I see beautiful black and white photos entered in for the contest. But sometimes also photos where you can see that they are simply made with a black and white filter. And that's a shame. Because to make a beautiful black and white photo… you have to learn how to get the best results. You have to learn to look differently.

It is not just click the button, give it a black and white filter and ready.

It never works like that in photography. And therefore also not with black and white photography.

But what does work then?

Despite the fact that I do not place so many black and white photos myself ... I am a big fan of black and white photography. For the simple reason that I often find the photos much more powerful if you omit all colors. Black and white photography penetrates to the essence of what you want to capture. The omission of all unnecessary things in a photo brings you to the true emotion. And brings the photo to life much more. If you feel that you could improve yourself in this ... read on. I'm going to give you some tips here that can help you with this.

Shoot it in COLOR

The first tip I'm going to give you is kicking in an open door. I just say that black and white photography means more than clicking the button and using a black and white filter. And yet I am going to tell you that you have the best chance to take a good black and white photo if you shoot this photo in COLOR.

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That sounds nice and contradictory right? Well I will explain. When you take your photos in color, you use the full color spectrum of your camera. If you take the photo in black and white (which is not even possible when you shoot in RAW), your camera will omit many colors. I will not make it too technical further, but suffice it to say that if you take a photo in color, you have many more possibilities to convert it into a black and white photo via an editing program. Where you have the option of photos with much more contrast and gray tones than if you immediately take the photo in black and white. And more grays give a nicer gradient from deep black to bright white.

The second tip is to look for CONTRAST

Finally, a black and white photo consists of black, white and shades of gray. To see nuances in this, to create a striking image with these shades you need a lot of contrast. You are not looking for a photo where the majority is gray ... you just want to see really deep black and bright white. And you only get that by paying attention to contrasts. There are several ways to get contrast in your photo. For starters, light. If you don't know how to handle your light, say goodbye to your beautiful, sleek black and white photos. you need to be able to recognize the type of light and use it correctly to get the best result in your contrast.

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The best light for black and white photography is bright light. For example, think of super sunny days. If you are familiar with photography you know that the light of a bright sun is not the best light for your photo. Unless you choose black and white photography, you have to grab your camera and go out on these days. As soon as it is light outside, the lighter pieces become even lighter, making the dark pieces appear darker.

It is best to combine very light with very dark for the best contrast. So when you hit the road, look at contrast. Don't look at the colors because they will only be distracting. Simply think about dark and light.

Keep it SIMPLE

Black and white photography is often very simple. A black and white photo does not have the same fuss as what a color photo has. Also try not to do this by getting many elements in your image because then it will only become busier and more chaotic.
As soon as you start taking a black and white photo, consider whether the photo can be simpler. Can you take something out of the picture? Can you play with depth so that the focus is on one point? You have to do everything to make the photo simple. Less is more.

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Catch the EMOTION

The contrast in black and white photography makes it easier to capture emotion: the smile of an old man, the tear of a child or the wrath of a businessman. They all gain more depth and strength once captured in black and white.

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Make a SILHOUETTE or just show the CONTOURS

The usual way of creating a silhouette is to photograph against the light. Think for example of leaves in a tree, photograph from below towards the light. This makes the tree a silhouette. It doesn't matter if it's a very bright sunny day or cloudy. Both weather conditions work well for this effect.Try different angles and camera settings for best results.

However, what you can also do with creating a silhouette is to use an external off camera flash that shines a light on the contours of your subject. And leave everything black outside by setting a strong underexposure. I did this here with my white shepherd Rowan. The flash just lights up the contours of his hair, and these catch the light because Rowan had a LIGHT coat.

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Post-Processing

Of course, this form of photography also requires post-processing if you want to get the best result. And it is not for nothing that I want to emphasize here again, shoot in RAW if you have that option!

And if you have the option to shoot in RAW format, also spend time learning the basics of post-processing. Only then will you achieve the best results. But don't think you are taking a photo with Photoshop ... because that is absolutely not the case. A good photo can only get better through the correct use of photoshop. A bad photo continues to fail.

Thank you for reading this short black and white tutorial…

And SUCCESS everyone!