In the upcoming months I’m going to do several “courses,” and each will address a different subject over a few weeks. The first course is Black and White Photography. Yay!
Black and white photos can be some of the most beautiful images in your repertoire. I confess that I almost never consider black and white as an option. As I prepared to write up this tutorial, I realized what a shame that was – B&W photos are gorgeous and the ones I took this week are some of my favorites ever!
My first tip will seem totally counter-intuitive – shoot in color. Many point and shoot digital cameras come with a black and white mode. It can be handy to see what your photo will look like before you take it, but I advise against this. My reasoning is simple – you can always take color out of a photo, but you can’t put color into a photo that never had it. Even if you are 100% certain that you’re only going to use the B&W version of the photo, don’t take away your color option. Next week, I’m going to show you how to change your color photos into B&W beauties.
Because you can’t count on color to make your photos interesting, you really have to rely on the other aspects of taking photos: composition, lighting, and orientation. B&W photos rely on well-composed shots, so make sure you take your time putting together your picture. Lighting is SO IMPORTANT – the more contrast in the photo, the more eye-catching the photo will look.
The key to any successful photo is to pick the right subject. I personally LOVE portraits for black and white photography. Instead of getting lost in skin tones and eye color, I am drawn to cheekbones, mouth shape, and eyelashes. Here are a few I took this morning of my daughter that I love:
If this photo was in color, I’d be distracted by the bright colors of her blanket. But in black and white, the eyelashes are the focus, just as I intended.
Her eyes – look how they shine!
I put Annie in the right third of this photo to add visual interest, and I really think that’s what makes the photo work.
All those photos were taken originally in color. I used simple editing software to flip the image to black and white – and I’ll teach you how to do that next week. This week, think about composition and lighting before you press the shutter button. Any questions? Let me know.
See you next week for Black And White Photography 102: Editing!
Kristin says:
I like all the photos but the first two are truly stunning.
Do you use Photoshop to edit? I have used GIMP (think it stands for Gnu Image Manipulation Program) to do all these things. It’s a fabulous and free program designed to do all that Photoshop does.
Emily says:
I love your photography posts! I look forward to them each Saturday. And the second photo of Annie is simply breathtaking!
Shirley L says:
She is gorgeous – full color or black and white
Danielle says:
I can’t stop staring at the second picture. Annie is totally stunning there and looks so full of joy! And a little bit of mischief
michelle says:
Love this post! I am just now getting into photography as a hobbie and am looking forward to your next tutorial! Thanks!
Mommy says:
I got a beautiful DSLR for Mother’s Day that I am finally getting out of “auto” mode… Now I feel ready for an editing program. What do you recommend? Photo Shop? If so, which version?
Carly Boerlage says:
Beautiful photos! I thought I’d share a recent one I did of my son
Rebecca says:
She’s about the most cutest little adorable girl in the whole state of California.
Vagabond Mother says:
I love it. Can’t wait to learn what software you use as well. Beautiful!
Pgoodness says:
GORGEOUS!!!
I love b&w. In fact, all of the framed pics of my boys on one wall are b&w in black frames.
Dianna says:
These photographs are simply beautiful.
Dianna says:
Doesn’t hurt that the little girl is a beauty.
Jessica says:
I adore black and white photos. I just posted a few of my friends twin baby girls…love for you to check them out!
AmazingGreis says:
I’m in love with the second picture! I want to print it and frame it and put it on my book shelf. Those eyes slay me and I miss them.
Carrie says:
I love these pictures, especially the second one. I’m curious to know how you get more contrast in the photos?
Meghan says:
Man, I love that kid. It makes me sad that she doesn’t look like a baby anymore.
ALSO, you should totally do course on photographing hairstyles. I bet “people” would LOVE THAT. (I crack myself up, btw)
Bonna says:
I simply LOVE black and white photos. Before I went digital, I bought used black and white film and the I must admit that although I was a novice, I did not have enough subjects in order to use all of the file. I took photos, with their permission, of strangers in the park. There was a young mother and her infant daughter and their photo was absolutely gorgeous! I wish I had gotten her mailing address, because although I took the picture, it belongs with her. Color is okay, but there is a different dynamic with black and white. Babies, children and weddings are great subjects for black and white photos. I just wish I had more time to become a better photographer!
Valarie says:
Heather – your pics are awesome! (as always)
I am feeling motivated to purchase a “better” camera – better than my cell phone anyway
I also wanted to mention that I saw Spy Kids 4 this weekend with my kids – and OMG the baby in the movie looks soooooo much like your sweet Annie! I bet you will be hearing that a lot!!!
Adrianne says:
Those photos are amazing, Heather. Very well done! I love converting pictures to B&W. With the right picture, I find that it does amazing things.
I especially like the B&W option when I haven’t managed to get the right lighting. When you convert to B&W with those, you can adjust exposure, contrast, etc. and still make it look totally natural, whereas you couldn’t do the same with the same picture in color! Just a little something I’ve learned along the way. And I also JUST learned how to do B&W with a pop of color in Lightroom, so I just posted some on my blog of my niece that I think are super cute (though I know some people despise that technique)…
Ray says:
Gorgeous photos. Wow. Her eyes do shine! She’s so lucky to have so many photos to look back on.
Missy says:
I have recently fallen in love with black and white photography, but I do shoot in black & white, often. Believe it or not, my most stunning photos have been taken with the camera in my cell phone. My real digital camera is just a point and shoot, I haven’t saved up the money for a good one yet. But I’ve found a few settings and apps for teh camera in my phone that are awesome! One in particular I love because if you shoot with the special effects it saves 2 copies of the photo, one with the effect and one original. But I have found using some of the special black and white settings on the camera phone are MUCH more dramatic than just taking a color photo and converting it to black and white. I’ve also come to really like using picnik for photo editing… I wish I could add a photo in here to shoe you one of the best adn my most favorite picture of my daughter that I took, adn it was a b&w with my phone.
Jaime says:
I just did a collage of all B&W photos of my daughter. I bought a frame and filled it with all B&W images of her face, hands, feet, ect..It looks so elegant and so meaningful.