5 Inspirational Black and White Images and How to Make Your Own

The time of
associating black and white photography simply with old photographs has passed. Many digital photographers
choose to work in monochrome, often to great effect, but why?

There are many
reasons to photograph in black and white, or to post-process it that way afterwards,
but it’s also something that can be easily misused or not done to full effect.
Here we’ll look at some effective ways to use black and white as well as some
great examples to inspire you.

What You Need

The Kit

In respect of the
kit you need to take a digital black and white image, it’s the same as if you were
taking anything else. There’s nothing special you need to take a good black and
white photograph, but there are a few small things that can help.

Neutral Density Filters

Neutral density
filters go over your lens to block out the light. The extent to which they do
this depends on the ‘stop’ of the glass. A 10 stop ND filter, for example, is the
equivalent of blocking 10 stops of light, or reducing the light by 1000x. This
allows you to have the shutter open for longer (with tripod) to create more
dramatic skies or water.

These filters also
come in graduated versions, meaning you can choose to block the light from a
particular part of your image; just the sky for instance.

Polarising Filter

A polarising filter
reduces a particular wavelength, or family of wavelengths, from your image. These can cut reflections and make certain colours appear more saturated. Polarising filters are particularly useful for black and white photography as you can create a greater contrast
without losing detail in the highlights.

A Good Subject

As with anything in
photography, you need a good subject as the focus of your image. Not everything
looks great in monochrome but the brilliant thing about shooting in digital is
that you get the chance to make that decision later. Still, it pays to think
about what you’re shooting in advance.

When you’re thinking about the subject you also need to think about the background. An abandoned building may look great against a plain sky or field for example, but not so good in the midst of a city and its clutter.

Black and white really brings out texture and shape, so something may have more appeal once you lose the colour, than it did before.

Inspiration

City

city
Image: Photodune

Sometimes
I’m so taken by all the vibrant colours of a city at night that I never even
give thought to the fact that it could look amazing in monochrome. The muted
tones in this image make it so sleek and simple, it’s incredibly effective.

Abstract

abstract
Image: Photodune

Abstracts and architectural elements often look great in black and white, allowing you to focus
more on texture, shape and symmetry.

Flat Light

flat light
Image: Photodune

Flat light isn’t always a bad thing. As in cases like the picture above, flat light
can actually enhance your image. Softer highlights and midtones help to dramatize
the shadows, creating interesting lines from the trees.

Portrait

portrait
Image: Photodune

The soft greyscale
here really compliments this subject. The subtle centre spotlight keeps our
attention on her rather than the city but the buildings provide a great frame
and don’t distract due to their lack of colour.

Rain

rain
Image: Photodune

Although I’m convinced this would have worked in colour too, there’s no
doubting that the drama in this image has been enhanced by choosing to display
it in black and white. As it’s clearly stormy (we see rain, grey skies and the
flags blowing) then the choice of colour (or lack thereof in this case) really
hammers home how we’re supposed to interpret this image.

Technique

Colour

We can’t talk about monochrome without also talking about colour. The temperature of an
image, what people are wearing and the background colours can all be an
integral part of how we see the picture. Take away the colour, take away
distractions.

This will shift
your focus to other points; do all of the elements now work together? Is there
enough definition between foreground and background?

Communicate

If you want to make
great black and white imagery then there’s probably a reason. So, what is it?
What do you want to communicate to your audience?

Softer tones in
black and white, or greyscale photographs can convey love, mystery,
romanticism! Think of old black and white movies: just the term ‘old black and
white’ movies conjures up a sense of nostalgia and it can be the same with your
photographs.

Contrast

When we think black
and white, we can tend to think drama, lots of contrast and deep tones. It’s
almost the opposite of what we think of in a colour photograph. When was the
last time you tried to make a colour landscape have as much contest as
possible?

Our eyes are drawn
to contrast; the differences between the light and dark parts of your image.
Increasing the difference gives it more and decreasing it, less.

An image doesn’t
always need this ‘pop’ though, it depends entirely on what you’re trying to
convey. A landscape might have more drama and ‘ooh’ factor with dark shadows
and bright highlights, but what about a portrait? Images don’t always have to have punch to them. The look of a picture and its interpretation can often come down to the light. You don’t need fat white clouds or bright sunshine to get a great black and white photograph. Think of a dull, misty day with flat light, like one of our examples had above. Would that have worked quite as well with full drama?

Composition

Negative space becomes easier to
showcase when you take away colour. Think of a boring, empty sky in colour. It
may be blue, it may be dull grey but there still won’t be much of interest for
a viewer. Now consider that same sky in black and white: suddenly it’s great ‘negative’
space and can help make your subject really stand out in comparison.

Leading lines and textures also work
well when you ditch the complication of colour. Something that is ‘ugly’ to see
in colour, can become an interesting study in shape or texture when in black
and white. Think of black mold on a white tiled wall, or dirty puddles on a
light pavement.

Capture in RAW

RAW files give you
much more scope when it comes to post-processing. They retain all of the data from your
sensor without compressing or losing any information. You need a parametric
image editor like Adobe Camera RAW or Lightroom to make sense of this data, but it means you
can make far more intricate changes without losing quality, than you could
shooting JPEG.

Post Processing

I’ve already mentioned shooting in RAW and making some edits there, but
there are alternatives when processing. A favourite of mine, is Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2, part of the
Nik Collection, formerly paid for software which is now free to use.

This software has a range of black and white adjustments that are
incredibly quick and easy to use. You can choose pre-sets and leave them ‘as is’,
or you can fine tune each one to get a really bespoke look.

Potential Problems

Grain, or noise shows up much more in black and white images. This is not
necessarily a problem though! Some monochrome images look great with a bit of
texture and it can in fact improve their appearance and enhance the mood you’re
trying to convey.

Over-editing can be a problem too. Too many adjustments can leave an
image looking overdone, so knowing when to stop is a real skill. Working on
non-destructive layers and saving your progress as an editable file like a PSD
in Photoshop means that if you make a mistake or you have your image printed
and it doesn’t look great, you can go back and work on your picture without
starting from scratch.

Top Tips to Getting Monochrome Shots

  1. Try
    filters to add drama to skies and water, or to reduce reflections.
  2. Don’t
    rely on post-processing to make a great image: have in mind what you want
    to achieve from the start.
  3. Shoot
    in RAW to capture as much image data as possible.
  4. Think
    about key elements like light, contrast and negative space.
  5. Try
    a free resource like Silver Efex Pro to really give your pictures a punch.

Further Resources

Final Thoughts

I think most of us
enjoy nice monochrome images. We see the world in colour and having it
presented to us in a different and more abstracted way can create real
intrigue.

Whether it’s high
contrast and drama, or something more subtle in soft grey tones, there’s no
denying that black and white, when used well, can have great impact and effect.
Remember to try and picture what it is you want, as you’re shooting. Even
though we have the benefit of digital, it still helps other aspects of your image,
like composition, to have a goal in mind before you get to the processing
stage.

If you’re unsure as
to whether something would look right in black and white then try and look at
the scene objectively. Is the scene ‘busy’? Are there a lot of colours and do
those colours clash horribly or work well? If the colours are a distraction or
there’s too much going on then chances are it might work better in monochrome.

Try photographic
filters to help reduce reflections and to allow longer shutter speeds, which in
turn can create drama in movement. Shoot in RAW to be able to go further with
your adjustments and when post-processing, try not to go ‘too far’. Keep in
mind your original idea for the image and save your work as an editable file to
give you the chance to change your mind later without having to start over.

Finally, consider
using software to make your life easier. Free to use programs can give you as much or little control as you want and can yield some truly
spectacular results.

Download 5 Inspirational Black and White Images and How to Make Your Own

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