Nothing in the world is like black-and-white photography. There are black-and-white photos that take your breath away, that make you angry, in a good way. Today I will tell you about this “friendly” photograph in depth, and as usual, I leave you some other tips to improve your next black and white photographs.
There is something about black and white photography that sets us apart from other types of photography that fascinates us, a certain “magic” that is not found in color photography. Black and white never goes out of style, that’s how photography was born, and although it has evolved, it has improved its technique, its color, its resolution, its 3D, its je ne sais quoi. black and white is still the undisputed king to whom we all profess unconditional admiration.
- I don’t know what it will have.
- The truth is that black and white photography has a number of advantages that color photography can hardly match:.
Here are some tips to help you create your first black-and-white job
1- Learn how to detect the candidate photo for black and white: not all photos are good in black and white, by removing the color you lose an important part of the composition and you want it not to be seen. your “photographic eye” to gradually detect possible frames, compositions and subjects that can best emerge in black and white. It costs at first, but as you do black-and-white exercises, and then when you check the final result, you start to gradually know the photos that are valid for black and white and those that aren’t.
2- Shoot in color: Do you find it contradictory? That’s not all In the age of analog cameras, it was necessary to decide which film or reel to use, in color or in black and white. With digital photography, you can safely take your color photos, all of which and then convert the ones you’re interested in to black and white. The recommendation to take color photos is that once the photo is converted to black and white, you can always repent and return the color if you wish. If you shoot directly in black and white from the camera and then decide to recover the color, what do you do ??
3- RAW Photography: Most DSLR cameras (I think all) can be shot in RAW, unlike JPG, RAW allows you to preserve all the properties of the image, to be able to play later with all its attributes during the post-processing of the computer. , to increase your exposure, reduce it, to change the white balance, to change the contrast and a series of properties that will help you improve your photo in black and white. Take a photo in JPG “locks” all these properties and we could no longer change them, or not so much (here is an example video of the possibilities offered by RAW mode).
4- Beware of ISO noise: You probably already know, but should you insist ?, there are situations in which the lack of light forces us to increase the ISO value of the camera, the result is a more or less acceptable amount of noise, but beware, ISO noise is much more visible in black and white photos. Playing only with black and white (and intermediate shades of gray) makes it easier to notice the noise produced by the high ISO. So if you need to increase the ISO, do it, but very carefully.
5- Enjoy the cloudy days: gray, cloudy, rainy days, which at first glance seem unsuitable for an outdoor photo shoot, are essentially a great opportunity to capture amazing black and white photos, I guess it has to do with the nature of black. and blank photographs, usually sad, emotional, melancholy or dramatic. Grey days are the perfect ally for this type of photograph, as they create a dark and mysterious decoration ideal for this type of photograph.
6- Taking care of the composition: What I commented before, for lack of color, black and white photography is based on other elements such as composition, contrast between light and dark subjects, tones, shapes or silhouettes, repetition of textures and patterns. That’s why I told you that not all photos are perfect candidates for black and white. The black and white photo cannot be a “normal” photo, it should impact and attract attention.
There are situations, objects, things and people with which the use of black and white is a guaranteed success, if you want to get into this type of photography I recommend you start with one of these topics.
Grandparents?Rain, fog, autumn, winter? High contrast light and dark silhouettes
What you’ve read about the article should already give you clues to get good black and white photos, but if you know how to easily handle RAW photo processing here you have a series of 3 tricks that will further improve your black results. white:
That’s all. I hope that with this article I have bringed you a little closer to the world of black and white photography, remember that practice is the best way to learn?Don’t stop practicing.
Thank you.