Black White Digital Photography

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Black & White Photography

Black & white photography can be a powerful tool to bring out intense emotion, drama and contrast in a picture. It can also be used to de-emphasize distracting elements within a color photograph. Being devoid of color, it focuses the attention of the viewer to the area that conveys the story.

The monochrome (black and white) treatment is well suited to images that have sufficient tonality and contrast. If you plan to create a final image in monochrome, pay close attention to lighting, composition and visual contrast. Visual contrast can be achieved by placing darker elements in the picture next to light colored elements. Or by using negative space to create form.

Back in the days of film,we bought specific black & white films for the desired final look. Some films were known to be good for push-processing, giving a distinct high contrast grainy look which lent itself well to gritty reportage subjects, not to mention excellent for shooting in low light. Others were known for their smooth grain.

With digital photography, the best way to create black and white images is to convert color images to black and white. If you shoot in JPEG format, the fastest way to produce monochrome images is to use the black & white shooting mode directly on your DSLR.

But the method with the highest degree of control, and ultimately quality, is to shoot in RAW, convert it into a JPEG, and use post-processing techniques to extract a monochrome image from the color image. In direct contrast to film, digital black and white images of different styles can be produced from one single source color image, which can then be made as grainy, smooth or high contrast as you wish, in Adobe Photoshop.

Converting Color Images to Black & White

In Adobe Photoshop, open up your color image and look at the Channels palette. If your color image was shot with a DSLR, it should be in RGB mode. This means that in the Channels palette you should see 4 channels: RGB, R, G and B.

R is the red channel, G is the green channel, and B is the blue channel. RGB is the composite channel, which is when all 3 channels are combined to give you the final composite image. Click on the R channel to see a black & white version of the color image. Then click on the G channel and the B channel. Each channel will have a slightly different black & white version.

Look for the version that has the best separation of tones, which means that dark tones should be contrasted with light tones next to it. This gives the maximum contrast, thereby being the best black & white rendition of the color image. Once you identify the channel you want, click on that channel, do a Select All, then Copy, and then click on the RGB channel and Paste. You can choose to let the image (now a black and white image) remain in RGB mode, or convert it to Grayscale, before saving the file.

About the Author

Andy Lim runs a profitable photography business that spans wedding photography, commercial photography and conducting photography workshops.

For more useful information on photography, please visit www.goodphotography.info

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 67: Lighting for Black and White Photography


black white digital photography5
black white digital photography5

Black White Digital Photography

1

Black and White Digital Photography Basics

Most amateur photographers choose to use colour and light to enhance the composition of their photographs but many don't realise what effects can be created using black and white.  Here are some tips on black and white digital photography basics.

First of all the amateur photographer needs to remember that black and white isn't just as simple as plain black or plain white.  Don't forget all the shades of grey in between and the possible contrasts.

Lighting is just as important in black and white digital photography basics as it is in colour because of the contrasts and textures it can create.

Photographing landscapes:  On a bright sunny day with a cloudless sky, it's probably best to stick to colour but if there are some clouds, creating shadows on the ground, this can provide fantastic contrasts.  A really stormy lowering sky with billowing clouds look great in monochrome, as do really craggy, rocky landscapes.  A grassy meadow full of wild flowers won't create the right effect at all.

The point of monochrome landscape photography is to produce drama using contrast between bright light and dark shadows.  Don't concentrate on aspects of your photo that would normally require colour to show them to their best effect.

Photographing portraits: Another of the black and white digital photography basics is portraiture.  Most people have seen professional wedding photographers at work and their resulting monochrome portraits.  The lack of colour means that the subject is the total focus of the photo and the muted tones lend an air of timelessness and romanticism.

The absence of colour also lends an artistic tone and modern digital cameras often have different tonal modes such as greyscale and sepia as well as plain black and white.

Here are some more technical and artistic black and white digital photography basics:

1.    Get a camera which will shoot in RAW (this is not an abbreviation, it literally means unprocessed) and will enable you to do the processing on your computer and will give you much more flexibility.

2.    Use the lowest possible ISO to reduce the grainy appearance.  You can add it back later, if you wish but you can't take it out.

3.    Take photos outside on a cloudy day.

4.    As you can't focus on colour, seek out textures and tones to give interest to your photos.

5.    Use movement in your photos to give impact and drama.

6.    Invest in a good software program such as Adobe Photoshop for your post production manipulation.

If you follow these black and white digital photography basics, you'll soon be turnout out professional quality photographs.

About the Author

Jim Barton is an experienced photographer who wants to share what he knows about digital photography. For more black and white digital photography basics, visit Jim's Digital Photography website.

How to Shoot Architectural Digital Photos : Shooting Architecture in Black & White


black white digital photography5
black white digital photography5
black white digital photography5