Photography Magazine

A Black & white photo has always been mesmerizing and can add different angles and several emotions to the same photograph. There are basically 4 key ingredients of Black & white photography that will help you to visualize whether a scene will work as a black and white image or not. The ingredients include: 

Looking for Contrast: This is one of the key elements of black & white photography. Contrast can provide a black and white shot with more depth in it. Since you will be unable to use any color for distinguishing the different elements in the image, contrast makes up for this absence by providing tonal variances. Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will need to look for stark contrasts for all your shots. Use contrast only with respect to the subject whose image you have to take. every shot you want to convert to black and white - the subject matter will come into play here - but you should ponder how the contrast will come into play when composing your shot. It is an important element of composition. 

Waiting for the Right type of lighting: Where contrast creates a stark effect, use of proper lighting can soften your black & white images. Hence the type of lighting used by you is a determining factor in most black and white photography. Let us take an example: h3 is known as direct lighting and it is used in black & white photography to add to the contrast. On the other hand, if you use side lighting then it will reveal all the textures associated with your subject. It is mostly used in portraits as it can accentuate different features. Lighting also helps in adding shadows, which is another important element of black & white photography.

Shapes or Patterns: Shapes of patterns sometimes go unseen in color photography because the color draws the maximum attention. In black & white photography, it is exactly the opposite because it can make patterns and shapes come to life.

Texture capture: Capturing the texture of the subject is important for black & white photography because this can add more weight to the image and create a strong composition. Some or most subjects have outlines that reveal the texture and it can be captured better with black & white photography as opposed to color. This will add a new dimension to the subject as well as the final composition.

Some of the Top 5 Black & White films are:

1.      Ilford HP 5+ (none)  400

2.      Kodak T400CN CN 400

3.      Kodak T-MAX 400 TMY 400

4.      Kodak Tri-X TX 400

5.      Kodak T-Max 3200 TMZ 3200

Black & white photography has no limitations as far as photographical nuances are concerned or the subject in consideration. You can shoot just about anything from landscapes to people and places. Landscapes is by far one of the most popular shots employed in black & white photography although it requires more hard work than in color because the final composition should neither have too much of contrast, nor too light and should have a visible depth and shadows. Hence it is always advised to look for active skies that have vivid and expansive cloud formations so that you can make the maximum of the landscape by using a black & white film.

Black & white photography will probably never fade because it is the very epitome of color photography.