Exercise 15 - black & white

Armed and dangerous with some tips from the black and white pro's:

Ø        Avoid shooting with the sun behind you - your after contrast!

Ø        Whilst flat/dull days are poor for colour, their great for black and white - get out there with your camera and experiment.

Ø        What works in black and white? - the same as what works in colour...

Ø        On the other hand, a  poor colour image with a good tonal range can be 'worked' very effectively in black and white.

Ø        Black and white is very good enhancing depth.

I took my camera out with the specific purpose of taking black and white photographs for these next few exercises; it was a cold day with a very harsh sun and a good sky.

Interestingly I took shots that previously I would not have considered taking. By this I mean, shots that contained 'noise' or possibly more accurately 'clutter' - with the absolute belief that this would be removed/minimised/irrelevant because of the black and white processing. It took me back to an interview with Liam Neeson and the making of Schindler's List. The reason for black and white was so people could focus on the story not the detail of the film - for example, the blood. Colour is a very strong visual element and people are easily distracted by it, substitute this with grey and detail goes unnoticed.

The photograph selected here is rather nondescript and if it had remained a colour image would have been unlikely to catch anybodies eye. As a black and white image it is much more interesting.



The Street - as shot

Image information: f/11, 1/125, ISO 200

In terms of processing I tried a number of different black and white conversions: -

Ø        Greyscale - the result was fine, but felt rather clinical and stark.

Ø        Desaturate - for this particular image I couldn't see any difference between this and greyscale.

Ø        Gradient Map - this provided good contrast and I liked this result. I also liked the 'reverse' capability and the ease of which the image could be tinted.



The Street - sepia



Ø        Channel mixer - I found this a useful tool and ideal for quick conversions.

Ø        Black & White - this option provided the greatest flexibility and was also the most intuitive to use.

My favourite final image was obtained using a black and white adjustment layer.



The Street - using a black & white adjustment layer

One of the most interesting lessons learnt form this exercise is the use of 'channels' to examine your image - I had never noticed this tab on the layers pallet. When flicking though other images, even those destined to remain colour, I find it provides great insight into how you can work with your image to bring out its better qualities.