Tips for Black & White Photography

[Venky_lightbug]

Hello Guys,

Hope you all are doing great. Today I will be sharing few tips about Black & White photography.

We all know that the colorful photos blew our mind out, but the B&W one's can give the same feeling if you choose the right picture and frame.

Many a times we are confused between several filters and unable to take a decision to make it vibrant or moody or B&W.

Sometimes the colors in the pictures overcast the Contrast, textures and shapes in the picture. You are so overwhelmed with the colors that you barely notice the other factors. In such scenarios, the black & white photography would be really useful to show what you wanted to. The

It's very important to know "What picture makes a good Black & White image".

Here are few tips to remember while choosing a picture to apply B&W filters,

• Do not use B&W, when the main essence of the picture is the colors itself.

For example, if you see this bokeh shot of the rocks, the essence is majorly the colorful flags in the background than the stones itself. So the B&W filter doesn't look so great.

Black and White & Color comparison of boken shot of stones arrangement in Bhutan

• Make sure the picture has both dark and bright areas in near equal proportion, unless you are taking a portrait picture of single object or person.
• Make sure that the main subject is popped out in the picture and is not buried in the contrast. Play with the contrast.

Here are few examples for the pictures with right amount of dark and bright areas

Statue of Bodhisattva standing tall with mountains in the background captured at Buddha's Temple, ThimpuHere' the texture on the statue is more visible due to the tonal contrast in B&W, if not would have been unnoticable due colors.

The road to Haa Vally, Bhutan covered in snowHere again the snow is clearly visible even in the woods.

Clouds captivating the valley of Paro... View from Tenzingling resortThe cloud formation is clearly visible due to the difference in dark and bright areas.

• You can chose monochrome to convey a story or portray the mood.

Captured with light from a torch and used mask in a long exposure photograph to create the horror mood. Enemy lies Within

The mistique mood of an early morning view in the valleys

The loneyl platform at Kharghar Railway Station gives a nostalgic moodUpdate: Thanks to @TravellerG for this point(s)

• B&W are not mostly suited for Moving Objects with few exceptions. So avoid that.

These are just few examples of the B&W photographs. You can use the B&W filters for much more subjects and scenarios, but if you use the basics right, then it would look really great and memorable.

I hope this short article would be helpful for your photography and I would love to your tips and experiences with the B&W photography. ?

Have a great day.

PS: All the pictures have been captured by myself with a Smartphone.

@ermest  @PoliMC @InaS @DanniS Please give your feedback.

@TravellerG.. Would love hear your suggestions too ?

[DanniS]

Hi @Venky_lightbug,

Thank you for sharing your tips on black and white photography! I especially like the one with the statue as it has great contrast and the last one is also pretty impressive. It's not so easy to do black and white photos I've noticed, so this will be helpful for other Local Guides to keep in mind. 

Are you doing a lot of photography? Do you prefer to use black and white?

Here's one photo I did, while I was in Thessaloniki last summer. 

Caption: A black and white photo of an old ship leaving the docks and a lamp in front of it. (Local Guide DanniS)

[PoliMC]

Hi @Venky_lightbug,

Thanks for the tag!

I liked a lot your post because it's very descriptive. I think that the Black and White photography is good for some monuments and old buildings for example. Your examples are just great!

Which camera did you use for them?

[InaS]

Thank you for tagging me @Venky_lightbug. You did an amazing job capturing all these photos with your smartphone. What model do you use? For me, black and white photography gives imagination to the viewers to read a story of their own. 

Caption: One of the gates of Bratislava castle, photo in black&white. (Local Guide @InaS)

@VasT you might wanna share a photo of yours, as you love monochrome photography.

[Venky_lightbug]

That looks so great @DanniS 

Looks out of an old classic movie 🙂

I do photography during my travel and when I get inspired by some idea. And generally am not a B&W person but sometimes I like trying it according to the mood.

[VasT]

Thank you for the tag @InaS and thank you for starting this interesting topic @Venky_lightbug.

I love B&W photos though I have to admit that sometimes I am perplexed whether I took the right decision.

Caption: A photo of a store display in Venice Italy. (Local Guide VasT)

Please feel free to share your opinion @InaS and @Venky_lightbug!

[Venky_lightbug]

Thank you @PoliMC 

Yes for monuments the B&W look really great.

I have been using Oneplus Devices from last 3 years. All were captured with them. Recently bought a Pixel 2Xl for wife, need to try out with it sometime. 🙂

[PoliMC]

Hi @Venky_lightbug,

Thanks for your reply!

That sounds great! I will wait for your next great post with amazing photos and photography techniques!

Have a great day!

[Venky_lightbug]

Thank you so much @InaS 

If you would have avoided the sky in that picture, it would been much better looking IMO.

I really love the reflection of light on the stones. 🙂

And I have used Oneplus Phones to capture these.

[Venky_lightbug]

Pleasure's mine @VasT 

That is such a great picture. You have so much story captured in that and the blueish tint just adds up to that. The reflection wouldn't have looked well if it was in colors for sure.

The misalignment of the concrete part of the window is the only distracting part.

You definitely took the right path. It's not possible for every one.