It has become more and more common in the current digital era to look at things in color, which means that we often forget about how important black and white photography can be for our creativity, our perception of the world, and our photography. Despite the fact that black and white (bw) photography may not be as prevalent as it once was, it’s still an important tool in a photographer’s creative toolbox—especially if you want to develop your own unique style as a photographer.
History - the first 100 years of photography is dominated by black and white imagery. 'Shooting' in bw is not just a technique or 'trick', it's an integral part of that history and when we make bw photographs we have a chance to step into that tradition - to let it carry us along, study it and be inspired by it because without understanding that history, we're not properly equipped to truly understand photography. All great photographers look back. Understanding our past, seeing what others have done with their cameras before us is a critical element of knowing where we are today and how we got here; it's an important part of our photographic perception. Because photography has such a short (in both a historical and technical sense) past as an art form, looking back at those early pioneers in bw photography can really open up new ways to see - which is why it might be worth exploring.
Seeing In Black and White - while there is much said about 'seeing' in bw, the most effective way of learning and improving this creative tool is to study the masters, commit to make monochrome images and study the results - then repeat. My first four years in photography I worked mainly in bw - this grounded me in it's 'feel' and how a colour scene could be transformed into a bw negative and then a print....it's a process - a creative process.
Enhancing Our Creativity - since we see in colour, bw images provide a means for us to perceive the world around us differently - once removed so to speak. Some say bw lends a surreal sense to our photos. Since monochrome imagery emphasizes different elements of a subject, such as shape and texture, we gradually come to interpret what we see in a way unique to bw.
untitled - Toronto 2021 photo credit Michael G. O'Brien
Study The Masters Of Black And White Photography
Studying the masters of bw photography is a way to become inspired and to learn how certain scenes and subjects look in bw, as rendered by masters of the craft - through this study we develop a familiarity with its language and syntax.
Mary Ellen Mark, Diane Arbus, Fay Godwin, Walker Evans, Mark Ruwedal...studying the work of masters like these opens our eyes - the act of seeing is not just a passive activity; it’s an active process. When we say that we see something, we mean that we take in visual information and extract meaning from it. The more you train your eyes to look at things in new ways—seeing elements of a scene that others miss—the better your images will be. This is why it’s important to study bw photography. It can help you to consider elements of a scene like texture, tonality, contrast and shape in a different way than colour photography does - for example, what does a blue sky, a green forest or a huge fishing net drying in the sun look like in bw.
Practice, Practice, Practice - taking our cameras out regularly is crucial to improving our bw images and understanding the process. One way to strengthen technique in bw is to commit to making the photo in bw. Digital photography allows us to render a photo in colour, bw, or many other possibilities.Tell yourself before arriving at your location that the images you make today are going to be in bw. This discipline will help to eventually create some strong bw photographs.
Understanding how to interpret light will help us develop a strong sense of bw interpretation. We learn that seeing in bw can be more difficult than seeing in colour, because of its simplicity: with only one channel for information, we have to interpret scenes without colour cues. This requires special training and/or lots of practice.. But it also has an advantage; it lets you concentrate more on other visual elements – like forms, shapes and contours.The relationship between your subject matter and background is crucial when making photographs in bw - it helps create contrast between lighter areas (your subject) and darker areas (your background). This can help give your photograph dramatic impact.
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