Seeing in Black and White

When taking pictures in black and white, there's a lot of grey area, no pun intended. Crisp, clean photos need the blackest black and a true white, with varied shades of grey in-between. This week's pictures have all been taken with a 35mm film camera, and I developed both the film and pictures myself.

Don't be afraid to have multiple objects in the image to create a nice full frame. Look for balance and make sure all the attention in the image is on one side.

With black and white photography, it is very easy for detail to be washed out and things to be lost from parts of the image being too dark or too light. For example, it's very difficult to see the snowman's arms in this pictures because the tree background is too dark.

This picture is cool and all, but it could be better. Can you think of anything right off the bat? I'll give you a hint: there really aren't any true whites or blacks in this image, it's almost all grey. Greys are fine to have in a black and white photo, but when that's all there is, a picture can seem very flat and not very appealing. 

Don't be afraid to try new things. If you're using a film camera, you are limited to how many pictures you can take, but if you're using a DSLR, snap away! This picture I took as an experiment and I think it looks pretty cool. I have a feeling though that it wouldn't have looked as cool if it was in color. 

Black and white pictures are excellent for showing extreme detail in subjects, especially in nature. Focus can be on drops of water or each leaf on a bush.  Look for cool textures and patterns to make a really rad black and white image.

Tips to Remember:

•   To have a really nice-looking image, make sure to have true blacks and true whites, with varying greys. If a picture is all grey, it appears to look washed out and not very appealing to the eye

•   Shadows look exceptional with black and white photos, so if you can play around with lighting and shadows, do it!

•   Watch out for things being too washed out from objects in the image being too dark or too light. Because it's harder to see slight changes in color in a black and white photograph, things can appear to be washed out or hidden, so watch lighting when taking pictures (example, the snowman picture)

•   Because we live in a digital age, it is easier to take a picture in color, and then edit it to a black and white photo. I obviously could not do that with these film pictures, but don't be afraid to take a picture and then alter it to black and white to see how it looks