Things I learnt as a photographer, shooting Black & White
Every photographer should do this experiment
“suddenly your restrictions become the opening to endless possibility”
Have you ever tried sketching using a single pencil? or Tried writing poem/song on same subject over & over again?
’cause if you’ve then you know or if you just think about it you’ll understand that it will be so very hard to create something new with you get saturated with it.
it’s like painting the most vivid picture but with just one color, like writing a entirely new poem yet keeping it about the very same! crazy ins’t it?! Indeed it is…
I am a self-taught, amateur photographer. As I slowly started drenching myself in the knowledge of photography and the science behind it, I came across many new techniques of photography. Some old, like cross process effect and then some relatively newer concepts like HDR. And just like any other naive photographer over-saturated shades of sunset/sunrise & hues of flowers used to my parameters for ‘good photograph’.
But I always had an inclination towards B&W photos, for me they seem to posses some charm. Even after my many attempts I failed to satisfy myself with the end result of my black & white photos I kept digging for more. I had an impregnable perseverance towards B&Ws. As I learned more and more of Lightroom™ and Photoshop™, I learned the fundamentals of making of black & white photographs.
And suddenly that inclination of mine turned into a full-time addiction. Now I used to find colors distracting and chaotic. Whereas with B&W the picture is devoid of all such elementary delude.
And suddenly that inclination of mine turned into a full-time addiction. Now I used to find colors distracting and chaotic. Whereas with B&W the picture is devoid of all such elementary delude.
“simplicity is not just the absence of clutter in the ornamentation,
it’s about bringing order to the complexity”
I personally think that B&W photos are engaging at deeper level. You don’t need colors to bring the drama to your photo, or need to capture the entire gamut of colors meticulously to produce an evocative image. Lights, shadows & shades of grey can do that, brilliantly I must add.
‘know your light’
you nail it, you nail the entire photography!
when you pull out the colors from the scene, everything else get to play their role in much more powerful way. Textures pop out to produce a distinguished drama, gradients of shadow produce a homogeneous and linear lighting effect, darker & lighter areas automatically produce a sense of depth. Global lighting comes to play and light up your object producing a natural ‘point-of-interest’. Those little grains in the back, you have to apply noise reduction to them because they’re another layer of detail in your photo, which eventually adds to the over all beauty.
I think B&W photography is neither easy not readily understandable, rather it’s an acquired taste
The only thing that you need to do before to start B&W photography is wrapping your head around your subject and make out how it’ll look in B&W, the make the changes accordingly for a great shot.
