was out that she had headlong into the
21st century I think if the late-1990s
in the 18 year old me is at college I'm
learning photography I've got my Pentax
p50 I'm in the darkroom developing my
own film exposing my own shots
I'm shooting ilford HP 5fb for other
black-and-white films this is all I've
got the knowledge to do this all I have
the facility to do black and white is
how I'm learning the language of
photography why should color it so I've
got pictures of my friends pictures of
my dog for the 18 year old me the color
is not yet photography color is for
documentation black and white is for
parts
jump forward 20 years to today and color
is the default for everyone from the
casual smartphone shooter to the
professional with a DSLR color is what
we use unless we actively decide not to
for most of us these days black and
white is an afterthought a creative
filter we have an Instagram a Lightroom
preset we apply because that particular
shot has too much color in it
black-and-white is not generally
something we pre plan my point is that
black and white is more than an editing
technique is more than a creative filter
it's a completely different way of
working a completely different
photographic language so to give you a
bit of an idea just how different black
and white color from color I'm just
going to click my fingers and turn this
shot black and white change nothing else
except take away the color
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that's great black-and-white photography
is a huge huge subject and one I can't
begin to cover in one video well like
I'm begin to cover it I mean that's
exactly what I'm gonna try and do here
in 9 quick tips and techniques that I
think can play a key role in creating
black and white photography number one
plan to shoot in black and white before
you take the shot if for no other reason
that it will help you develop your
visual senses and expand your
understanding of the visual world make
sure you understand why you're shooting
black and white with color that can date
the image a little bit more it's not
necessarily a bad thing but is something
to be aware of with black and white you
can tend to get a more timeless
aesthetic with color there's more
distraction there's more information
with black and white you're dealing with
a pure form of image it strips
everything back to its fundamental
building blocks of light and dark you'll
find that by approaching a shot with
black and white already in mind you'll
start to change both how and what you
photograph to look for the abstract
black or white photography is a great
medium for creating abstract work try to
think about the negative space and the
shadows and the reflections look for
lines shapes contrast patterns and
textures removing color can transform
your shot into less an image of
something and more of a canvas of form
and toned you can turn curving scenes
into abstract patterns and you can turn
body parts into what little light
landscapes you can combine the
figurative and the abstract like
photographer Malik CD Bay has done here
on the one hand it's a portrait and on
the other it's a tapestry of contrast
and pattern the resulting image has a
vibrancy and an energy to it a different
example can be seen here in Kathy Ryan
shot from the series office romance
she's really found a beauty in the
mundane she turned a generic and
soulless office space into a work of
and what's great about this shot as well
is that it was shot as many of her shots
are on her camera phone it's good to
remember that while having good gear is
really important the biggest
differentiator in creating good and bad
photography is the person behind the
camera number three shooting raw or use
filters shooting raw if you're shooting
digital and you can simulate color
filters by adjusting the color sliders
in Lightroom or Photoshop or whatever
you use if you're shooting film just use
color filters you can do it with digital
as well obviously but you can control
the tones between the different colors
and create contrast and bring out
texture by doing this for example you
can pull down the blue sliders or use a
red filter to create very dramatic skies
but as always don't do anything just for
the sake of it understand what you're
communicating by doing that having a big
dramatic sky communicates the power and
the dominance of nature the more
dominant the sky in your photo the more
it will show humanity's insignificance
your shot will become more about that
for use long exposures black and white
photography loves long exposures they
can really help emphasize textural
differences in your shot for example a
shot of flowing water can create an
ethereal smooth effect to the water that
can really contrasts against jagged
rocks at the side black and white
emphasizes texture a lot more and long
exposures can really bump this up it's
also good to use a polarizer because
sometimes highlights and reflections can
look weird in black and white and if you
can minimise those that's often a
helpful thing to do but again be aware
of what you're communicating with this
technique long exposures will turn your
shot from a snapshot of a frozen moment
to being more about the place you're
shooting it will create a sense of time
passing rather than that decisive moment
that cartier-bresson was so famous for v
dodge and burn with black-and-white
photography you've got much more license
to push the image in post than you do
with color before it starts to look
garish use the local adjustment tools to
highlight sections of your image
bring out textures bring out contrast
bring out brightness in certain areas to
draw your viewers attention darkroom
expert
Pavlo an arrow from magnum photos has
worked on some of history's most iconic
black-and-white photos and if we take a
look at some of his marked up darkroom
test prints you can clearly see that
without the extensive and meticulous
dodging and burning these prints were
subjected to these images really
wouldn't be half as striking as the
photos that we know and revere today
here are two great quotes by Ansel Adams
who was a master of black-and-white
photography the first one says you don't
take the photograph you make it I think
that's very relevant here in this
situation and this next one is quite an
amusing one dodging and burning are
steps to take care of mistakes gob made
in establishing tonal relationships I
love that basically you can't control
everything in your frame all of the time
so a little creative license can be
employed to help communicate your vision
to the viewer there occasionally seems
to be a prevailing attitude around
photography the post-production is in
some way cheating and it really isn't
it's as much a part of photography as
framing the shot and releasing the
shutter and if it's good enough for
Ansel Adams then it's good enough for me
and it should be good enough for you too
six think about light understand how the
change from color to black and white
affects light and how it affects mood in
your photographs in color photography
direct sunlight will give you a warm
feeling shear image and an overcast day
can give you a cold feeling but is all
lost in black and white and replaced
solely was contrast direct sunlight will
give you strong contrast harsh lights
and darks that will accentuate angles
and textures in extreme examples of this
the image can take on a graphic or
abstract feel softer overcast days will
give you a softer light will give you
more tonal range and make your image
feel karma and quieter 7 use HDR now I'm
aware that HDR is a bit of a dirty word
in photography and for good reason what
started out as a technique to help bring
out details in the darks and lights has
turned into a creative technique where
it looks like someone's vomited on a
page
and colored it in with fluorescent inks
a lot of the time not all the time but
HDR can work well in black and white
when done properly so try taking
multiple exposures and layering them up
and seeing what you can do with it have
a play around see where you can bring
out textures a little bit more and bring
back some details and just play around
with the image a bit just don't overdo
it 8 use black and white to emphasize
mood when taking pictures of people when
taking portraits the loss of color can
really place an emphasis on the subjects
expression and the emotive tone of the
photo it can help the viewer make a
stronger emotional connection to your
subject because of this place extra
attention on the eyes eyes are a large
part of how we read expressions in
people and they also contain extreme
darks and lights so really try and bring
those eyes out again don't overdo it
but that can really help communicate an
emotive tone where color would be maybe
too much of a distraction
number 9 subvert expectations try
creating black and white shots of things
you usually associate with strong color
this will help both expand your visual
sensibilities and also challenge the
viewers perception of the visual world
they know it can reveal shape and form
and texture that was previously
overshadowed by strong color but
something to remember here is that shots
that have little color in them to begin
with tend not to make the best
black-and-white shots
it's the shots that are dramatically
transformed by the black and white
conversion process that carry the most
visual interest and impact so those were
my quick black-and-white photography
tips I'm now actually feeling really
inspired to grab my camera and tripod
and jump on a cheery go out do some
black-and-white photography so I think
I'm going to do that so I'll see you
later
I come out to the Barbican which is one
of my favorite areas of London to
photograph if you don't know it is this
weird complex of brutalist architecture
which is really quite amazing
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