If you’ve never taken black and white pictures before, you’re missing out on a lot. Here are some suggestions and black and white photography tips to enhance your images.
Contrast is Crucial
This is important in color but in B&W shoots, this is even more so. It can help define the shape of the objects in the image. With the right contrast, everything becomes clear in a glance. Too much white and the image appears washed out. Too much black and everything will look dim.
Other factors play a vital role, but this is one of the most essential. Before you start taking shots, think about the contrast settings in the scene.
Timing is Key
While the above mentioned suggestion is vital, you don’t have to follow it always. When it comes to black and white photography tips, timing can’t be ignored. When you take the photos can make an image stand out, more so than any computer enhancement.
Remember that photos should evoke some kind of emotional response from the viewer. You can do this by shooting at the right place and time. Taking pictures on an overcast day will make for fascinating pictures. The shades of gray or black can evoke feelings of mystery. Here, subject matter, colors and timing come together.
Shadows and Highlights
Colors allow us to see things more clearly. It also helps the eye in moving around the image. With black and white you have to rely on textures, shadows and highlights. For this reason you should pay attention to how the shadows appear. This is a black and white photography tip that a lot of professional photographers use frequently.
The composition is all important, and the shadows and highlights are key ingredients. If they are in the right place, you help the eye look at the picture as a whole. It also becomes easier to move from one spot in the picture to the next.
About Lighting
The degree of lighting affects contrast, so this factor can’t be ignored either. Apart from the main light, the side lighting is just as crucial. Side lighting is used to display textures and shapes.
The lighting will also determine the strength of the shadows. When experimenting with black and white photography tips about light, avoid excesses. Too much of it can ruin or distract a beautiful picture.
A Few More Reminders
When taking photos of the sky, look for a busy atmosphere. Even without colors, these can produce extraordinary images. This holds true even when shooting landscapes. What it does is create a mood. It adds variety to a photo with little tonal variance.
Patterns and textures also come to light with black and white photos. With color images, they can get drowned. Without color, their shapes become more evident. You can use them as a focal point in images.
Regardless of the subject, these types of pictures produce effects that can’t be replicated by colorful images. With these black and white photography tips, you’ll get to produce some captivating shots too.
