I want to write a series of short posts about black and white. They will not be necessarily organized or extensive like book chapters, but will contain information which, in my view, may serve as conversation starters.
Photographers who are not used to working in monochrome will sometimes shoot a scene that looks good in color, desaturate it or use a Lightroom preset to convert it to black and white, then become frustrated because the black and white version is so much less appealing.
Why is that? First and foremost, when in working in black and white, it is important to recognize which types of compositions work, and which ones don’t work, before clicking the shutter. It is important to be able to “see” in black and white, and this is what I want to explore in the next series of posts.
First, let’s agree that is easier to recognize when a black and white image works out well, then it is to define the characteristics that will make a good black and white image. For this reason, I will begin by posting a few photos and ask two questions: 1) will this work in black and white and, 2) what are the characteristics that will make it work/not work in black and white?
By “not working in black and white” I mean: getting rid of color will detract from the image and make it weaker, less appealing.
I took the FEATURED IMAGE (f/18, 1/80s, ISO 400) from the Rush Ranch in Fairfield, CA (I wrote a blog post about this place last year). As is, it is a fine image and yields a beautiful color print.
Do you think this image will look good in black and white? Why?
Continues in Chapter 2.…
———————————————
________________________________
It is all about the light 
Leave a reply to Steve Schwartzman Cancel reply