Print Article for : Black And White Photography

Your Online Guide » Photo & Video » Guide to Photography

[B708]Black And White Photography

by Tj Tierney, Tj

With today’s digital technology, transforming colour images into black and white photographic prints is pretty straightforward but don’t throw away your rolls of black and white film.

Black and white photography is still regarded as a favourite with many photographers - dull landscape scenes become more dramatic with black and white photography.

Most subjects that are shot in colour can be taken with black and white film. Portraits are still widely taken by professional photographers all over the world.

One of the most popular uses of black and white photography is with wedding photographs. More couples are now opting for a combined wedding album of black and white images that really capture the mood and emotions of the special moment.

Black and white landscape photography is becoming popular again and is more suitable for taking images when the day is dull or too bright. If a scene does not have an entire spectrum of different colours, consider viewing it as a black and white photograph.

Do we need to learn black and white photography tips in a world of colour? You must choose the answer to this yourself - but here are a few pointers that will help you to make your decision.

1 Black and white photography is becoming more popular with the general public, and for that reason alone… new opportunities will open up for you.

2. In some situations, black and white photography has the tendency to make photos look more like works of art - fine art images will sell better in galleries.

3. Landscape images often lack a multitude of colours, using black and white film when shooting daytime photos will add impact to your photography.

4. There is also the value of using your own darkroom - the thrill of developing your own film and processing your images.

The same principles for colour photography apply to black and white photography. If you have mastered the art of photography, taking images with a roll of black and white film should be easy.

Filters are just as important with black and white photography. There are fewer filters available for black and white photography, but one that you should use is the polarizing filter. This filter is very effective for both black and white photography and colour photography. The polarizing filter makes the sky stand out to give your landscape images serious impact. It also helps to reduce glare from the sun’s rays - which is very handy for urban or architectural photography.

Exposure with black and white photography is a small bit easier. Black and white film handles light more easily than colour film can - which gives you greater room for error. Most black and white film allows you to capture detail when you underexpose at two stops. With overexposure the range is greater - between five and seven stops are allowed. This is known as film latitude. With colour film you are limited to a latitude of one stop each way.

This does not mean that you can become lethargic when taking black and white images. It means that if you do make a mistake the results may be acceptable.

Photography is a diversified field of creating a spectral variety of art. It is a specialization that deals with different experimentations with colors, however it is also a fact that only shades of black and white can also do wonders in this zone of creative art. With the advent of the digital camera the scope of this wonderful business has opened up new horizons for the users and photographers who seek to explore new lands and trod the ground of innovative creation and thus it can be aptly said that black & white can become more creativity with the boon of digital photography and digital camera. This discussion is primarily aimed at exploring the incipient information regarding the blessing of the digital camera in black & white photography so that the novice as well as the expert photographers can become richer in knowledge!

The exploration can be further extended in defining that a lot of modern digital cameras contain a series of mono modes in the advanced menu settings. These can be used to become more creative with digital photography and in the areas of black and white too. For example some of the modes are as follows: Black & White that takes black and white photographs encompassing of a spectral range of gray tones. This gives the black and white photographs a serious and ethereal look with the richness and grandeur of the past, present and future captures in just two tinges! Another mode is Sepia that again takes pictures in varying tinges brown tones. Looking into a matter a bit more technically, it can be stated that as the digital camera is switched into any of these modes then the color LCD becomes grayscale. The technology proceeds as in the process the pictures are taken the color signals get recorded by the CCD, but the image is later de saturated when processed to remove all color.

A lot of interesting points exist in the area of black and white photography using the digital cameras. For example shooting in black & white becomes more interesting with the use of filters. Experimentations can be done by the enthusiastic photographers as to how a particular color would appear in black & white. This can be demonstrated by the fact that perhaps a red filter placed over the lens lightens any red color in the picture making them appear as lighter shades of gray in comparison to other colors like blue green. This process can be very challenging and in the same time very interesting! It is true that digital black and white photography can be used often for the purpose of portraiture and taking pictures of landscapes and can also become very effective in abstract shoots offering a graphical view of the subject to be photographed. The ultimate truth is that the black and white digital photography can make the world look complete different from what it is through the human eyes.

The graphics software from Adobe - Photoshop - with its more advanced options a person can edit each of the colors in the image to lighten or darken and provide the effect of brightness in varying intensity too. Becoming an expert in this can make a person versatile in techniques of adjusting the tonal range of a black & white image. This is the liberty that the digital camera provides in the field of black and white photography. Thus the users can make much more efficient and richer quality photographs.

The above lines of this discussion has explored the incipient ground of interest and information of black and white photography using the digital camera, however it has to be noted here that to get the real taste of the honey the users or photographers must not waste time and take up their digital cameras and get going into the cool new and most beautiful world of digital black and white photography! It is out there for everyone.

Article Source : Guide to Photography

About Author

Both Tj Tierney & Jan Linden are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Tj Tierney has sinced written about articles on various topics from Basketball, Hunting and Photography. TJ Tierney is an award winning Irish Landscape photographer. For more tips you can visit his photography site. To view his images visit his on-line gallery of. Tj Tierney's top article generates over 368000 views. Bookmark Tj Tierney to your Favourites.

Jan Linden has sinced written about articles on various topics from Photography, Trucks and Interior Design. Jan Linden is a professional photographer and designer runs Fine Art Photo Gallery website.. Jan Linden's top article generates over 368000 views. Bookmark Jan Linden to your Favourites.