The power of black and white photography

When I starting learning photography, I used to shoot 95% black and white film. There are several reasons for this. First of all, black and white images force you to look at the subject and composition without be distracted by color. This gives you a lot of power and allows you to create a sense of drama that you can’t obtain with color. Also, black and white can be more forgiving when you are working in a home darkroom. The chemicals aren’t as temperature sensitive for black and white processing as they are for color. In addition, shooting black and white is much less expensive than color.

The images below started off as color digital images and were converted to black and white. While there are always exceptions, one thing I look for in a black and white image is dynamic range. I ask myself questions such as are the black tones in the image truly black without crushing all the detail? Are the whites, really white without blowing out detail? And are there ample gray tones in between.

Sometimes, depending on your subject, the lighting, and the environment, it’s difficult to get the dynamic range you want. For some edgier images you may want more contrast and less gray tones. Sadly, I have seen photos where the contrast was exaggerated in order to disguise a poorly exposed and/or lit image. Don’t do that.

This was shot using available light image from a large window.

I used a ring flash and drug the shutter to get the sense of motion. I think this where a higher contrast works for the image.

This was a studio shot using a large soft box and a reflector.

This is an available light photo. I like this images because of the simplicity and the dynamic range. There are tones that range from pure white to solid black and everything in-between.

Remember that the key to good black and white conversions, it to manipulate the color image prior to conversion to gain the most dynamic range.

That’s it for this time.

Thanks for reading!!

-Ken