Black and White Photography

There’s something timeless about a black and white photo. It’s a less literal medium than colour of course, which means that it will date less quickly (it’s astonishing how technology and fashion can alter our expectations of colour images).

| The process

What’s interesting is that I have to go out with the intention of shooting in black and white. I find it difficult to switch back and forth between colour and monochrome. Weird I know.

I use a monochrome picture profile when shooting. However, as I shoot using raw, the images retain all the colour information. (This means I have the best of both worlds. I’m not stuck with a mono photo forever.) The actual ‘darkroom’ magic happens in post-production, when the colour is carefully removed and the photo converted to black and white.

This collection of black and white images is from Northern Britain, from the Western Isles of Scotland to the wilds of Northumberland. Oh, and one was shot in Turkey. Can you guess which one?

| Where to go?

It’s not so much when to go as when to shoot. Black and white photography is effective when there is contrast in a scene. That can be light – when there are well-defined shadows and highlights. Ironically it can also be colour contrast – when there is a mix of colours such as blue and red in the scene. Colour filters (or applying ‘filters’ in post-production) will separate those colours into lighter or darker tones.