The Black & White Photography Book

There is something magical yet traditional about monochromatic photography. All the distractions of colour are taken away and what you’re left with is the structure and form of a place, object or person. In The Black & White Photography Book Fifth Edition, you will be guided through all the fundamental aspects of the medium, including how to shoot professional-looking black-andwhite portraits, landscapes and travel images. Soon a moody city scene will transform into piece of black and white art through your lens. In this revised edition, we have provided you with essential advice from industry professionals who shoot black-and-white images in all genres, including stunning architecture . But it’s not all just about shooting techniques and skills – we also have several editing tutorials, so you can take advantage of…

Photography began in black and white. But with rolls of monochrome film and darkroom experiments, the equipment and techniques used were a long way from the digital cameras and image-editing software that we have now. With some of the world’s most iconic images having been captured in the black-and-white medium, there is a lot of history behind it, but it’s no surprise that it remains as popular now as when it was first developed. Advancing successfully from film into digital over recent years, the monochrome medium has improved dramatically. Even darkroom tools and techniques have seen a digital revival with computer software, making black and white much more accessible to photography enthusiasts. As it works effortlessly with any photographic genre, the black and white medium is used across the industry,…

Dean Sherwood Web: www.deansherwood.com “I am a Grimsby-based commercial photographer/cinematographer producing high-quality imagery for commercial businesses, retail sites, portraiture, weddings, musicians/bands and HD web TV films for commercial businesses.” Dean specialises in music photography and has worked closely and been on tour with big British bands such as N-Dubz, Feeder, McFly and One Direction. 1 Choose RAW Photograph in RAW if you can. 2 Emotive work Capturing emotion always looks great in black and white. 3 Contrast rules Think about the contrast between the main subject and the background, like a light subject against a dark background. 4 Throw some shapes Lines, shapes and textures look great in black and white. 5 Composition is key With colour removed you have to concentrate on your composition. The viewer’s focus is purely…

Dodge 1 Set the Dodge Select the Dodge tool first in order to brighten areas of the frame. Adjust the brush size to a suitable diameter and select a soft edge to help blend the effect. Using the Range dropdown menu, select the Midtones as you don’t want to make the highlights any brighter. 2 Apply the effect Adjust the intensity of the effect by pulling the Exposure slider down low; this will allow you to build up the brightness effect carefully. You can now gently brush over the areas you wish to lighten. Burn 1 Prepare to burn Hold down the Dodge icon until an option menu appears and select the Burn tool. Again, adjust the brush diameter to a suitable size and choose a soft edge. Select the…

Colour filters Red: Popular with landscape photographers, red filters have the biggest impact on contrast and are used to enhance dramatic skies by affecting the blue and green tones in a black-and-white image. Yellow: A relatively subtle filter effect, the yellow colour tends to lighten red, orange and yellow tones. Green: You can enhance a dramatic sunset using a green filter, which will darken the red and orange tones. Blue: Lightening the green and blue tones, the blue filter works similarly to the green colour filter in darkening red and orange tones. Orange: The orange filter will darken blue and green tones and lighten yellows and oranges. It is often used in black-and-white portraiture to remove freckles and blemishes from the face. ND Filter (Neutral Density) ND filters allow you…

Texture and interest When composing, think carefully about how textures can be recorded in black and white in order to add a feeling of depth. Stormy skies in a landscape is a great example, giving you interest at the top of the frame that will still help to draw your eye down into the focus of the frame. Shoot in colour Shoot your black-and-white images in colour first and convert them to monochrome later using photo-editing software. This will give you more control over the results, particularly the strength of the overall contrast. It also means that if the image doesn’t work in black and white you still have the colour copy. Conversion When converting your colour captures to black and white, keep it simple. There is no right or…