Why take a photo in black and white? Why is the photo black and white? Why is everything black and white?

It is not surprising that black and white photography attracts newcomers, inspired by the work of René Maltet, Arthur Elgort, and of course, Henri Cartier-Bresson. But, as before, few people manage to make their work better by simply translating them into black and white. This is a rather capricious genre with a special character ... but let's get to the point: how to understand that a frame is really “asking” for this processing format?

We mentioned the word “processing” for a reason, because one of the most common beginner mistakes is to turn on the BW mode directly on the camera. In order to make your photos black and white, it is better to use specialized software, since there are free photo editing programs. This is the only way you can achieve the effect you want and not spoil the image.

The most confident candidates for B&W are pictures in which you want to emphasize the difference in textures. Let's say you have a model with delicate porcelain skin in a straw hat or a coarse knit sweater. Sometimes the contrast is hidden even deeper than in the external texture, for example, when in one frame we see representatives of different generations or buildings of different eras and styles.

"Antique" This is perhaps the most common reason to convert a photo to BW. They look good in black and white buildings of the romantic or industrial era. But, I would like to emphasize that monochrome is not the main distinguishing feature of old photographs, which we are trying to imitate in this case.

“Film effect” is also a special dynamic range of photography, graininess, atmospheric photo. In the next article, we will definitely touch on these topics in more detail.

By the way, you can consider converting photos to black and white as one of the options for uniqueizing photos and as a way to get unique pictures for the site.

Often B&W helps save a card that fails in terms of color or has inappropriate details that are too bright and attract unnecessary attention. It often happens (especially for beginners) that a model comes to the shooting in a set of clothes that are very unsuccessfully combined or too bright colors. In general, outfits in “acid” shades greatly drown out the natural beauty and very few people really suit. What to do in such cases, you have already guessed.

Sometimes the viewer needs to be helped to focus on the content of the photo rather than the form. If your profile is a reportage, you will have to resort to B&W often.

In general, it is important to develop a black and white vision of any picture. This helps a lot to abstract from insignificant details, to feel and catch the essence of the frame. Let the black-and-white photos of old-school photographers become the standard for you, try to look at them more often. Watching black-and-white films helps a lot to develop, both old (for example, the Soviet adaptation of Jack London's The White Fang) and newer, up to Rodriguez-Tarantino's Sin City. This will not only inspire you to new B&W photography feats, but is also guaranteed to improve your skills in composition, framing, seeing light spots.

Did you also notice this strange flash mob on VK and Facebook? Social media users have been posting cryptic photos on their pages lately. Two years have passed since the ice bucket challenge went around the Earth, and we still meet the next viral challenges. The bucket of ice water was still clearer, and the meaning of new promotions is getting thinner every day.

The new viral "challenge" is even more mysterious. It doesn't offer users any explanation at all. People post black-and-white photos of themselves with the words "challenge accepted" on their Facebook and VK pages, often tagging friends in the comments to challenge them. Friends do the same.

After coming across a few of these messages, you wonder “what is going on?”. You start to "google": why people do it. And yet you find an explanation, here are a few of them from top tops info.

Most people say the black and white photography challenge is to raise people's awareness of cancer. The idea is to fill the news feeds with black and white photographs of support for the fight against the disease. It may be associated with some major charitable organization, although there is no talk of any donations or other actions yet.

It is most likely that someone started the action with good intentions to draw people's attention to the problem, and the details of the project got lost somewhere along the way. It is also possible that the reason was invented after the action gained momentum and became “viral”. Interestingly, some people share their pictures with an explanation of why they posted them.

White
fights to the death
with black
to lie on his bones
but find in it
clearance

Vyacheslav Kupriyanov

This is probably the question I hear most often:

Why black and white?

— I saw your photo in color, why did you make it black and white? He was much better...

So: black and white versus color... This dispute was born with the advent of the first color photographs and continues to this day, almost unabated. At the same time, it is conducted both at the level of amateurs and professionals. And even the recently very popular question “digit or film” could not blunt either colored or black and white swords.

When I am asked this question, I honestly answer: “I don’t know. I just love black and white photography." And in principle, this answer satisfies everyone ... except myself. Now I want to try to find the answer "for myself."

To begin with, I note that I photograph with a NIKON D70 SLR digital camera in color (it does not have a black and white mode) and transfer the picture to black and white already on the computer. What for?

Needless to say, I didn't do it right away. My first photographs were in color. If I didn't like them, I just threw them away. But one fine day I noticed that I basically like the photo, only that red cape on the left spoils everything. How the hell do you remove it!? Can't frame. At least take it and repaint it in gray-brown-crimson .... Or maybe just grey? More precisely in black and white?

So, the first reason I switched to black and white was the ability to hide the flaws in a color image. But this is only the first and purely external reason.

Let's go further. One of the most important differences between photography and all other forms of art is documentary. Where an artist (poet, director) creates a new reality, the photographer simply copies the existing one. It would seem that something is complicated here ... It would seem. But the question here is not even complexity, but the very nature of documentary. What kind of art is it if everything is done before you and for you. Only left in right moment push the button…. Where is the Art here? This question is very complex and I am not going to dwell on it here. I will cite just one phrase of the remarkable photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson “Photography is what painting, composition, plastic rhythm, geometry become, placed in a matter of fractions of a second.”

Stop. We're talking about black and white photography. What does art, documentary... have to do with it? Very even "at what". It is black and white photography that turns out to be quite far from the real world, while remaining documentary. Let me explain with an example.

In November 2004, I posted in the Foto.ru club a photo of a speaker speaking at a rally. Here is an excerpt from the discussion of this photo:

Spectator: A strong image. In a leather coat, in a brown shirt... It's even scary!

Me: The shirt is really dark blue...

I confess: I was wrong .... This is one of those times when a photo is smarter than its creator. The shirt actually turned out brown, regardless of what my hero was wearing at that moment. This is the strength of black and white photography: while remaining documentary, it leaves much more space for analysis, fantasy, reflection, etc. It makes it possible to hide some small details and move on to generalization. In short, black and white photography (to a greater extent than color) is distant from life and closer .... to what? I would like to say to art, but for this it is not enough to be divorced from life.

So, the main reason for my "departure" to black and white photography: on the way from documentary to artistry, it is much closer to the latter.

It must be said that an unexpected difficulty lay in wait for me along the way. It turned out that color and black-and-white photography are very different things and you need to think about it while pressing the "start" - or even before that. Often processing photos on a computer, I noticed that the photo does not look in color due to some minor elements (say, a passerby in a blue raincoat interferes with the main character in red pants). But the black and white version is even worse…hell knows why. How to deal with it? Theoretically very simple: try to see the world (or at least the part of it that you are going to appropriate) in black and white. In practice, it is very difficult, almost impossible. But... it's worth trying.

There are different points of view about black and white photography. Some believe that this was a technical limitation of the past that needs to be overcome and moved on. While others see it as a creative choice to be explored at great depths.

Camera design technology is improving with more emphasis on improving color ranges, so why do you make the decision to shoot or process your images in black and white? In this article, we'll look at five reasons why you might want to shoot or convert your images to black and white.

1. Black and white photos help you see differently.

The old "masters" of photography shot in black and white initially because they didn't have a choice. Even with the advent of Kodachrome, which introduced color photography to the world, black and white still existed. This is because black and white photography was (and for some still is) photography in its purest form.

When you remove color, the focus shifts to other compositional elements in the image. This includes lines, form and texture, contrasts and tones.

With that in mind, it's obvious that not all images convert well to black and white. So look at all the elements and highlight what else you need to work with besides color.

Often black and white helps develop a different perspective on what we are used to seeing and what our photographic eye is educating.

2. Black and white eliminates distractions

You are used to seeing the world in color, and there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes this contributes to the fact that other elements and details are lost or taken for granted. Some of the elements (highlighted earlier) required for a great photo include contrast, texture, lighting, and shape.

When you shoot black and white photos, you are challenging yourself to remove color distraction. These include color tints and differences in color temperature (ambient light sources), as well as specific highlights that may be in the background or detract from your story.

Monochrome shots force you to focus on form and texture when composing. If the emphasis is on sharing colors, then these elements are sometimes overlooked. In black and white photography, distracting colors are translated into shades of gray.

3. Black and white photography offers creative choices

Because your world is in color, it's safe to say that color photography depicts reality and is more realistic. So black and white photography is seen as an interpretation of reality, or how you interpret what you see.

When you remove color, you are not only isolating different elements, but you are also forced to look for how they relate to each other. This will help you explore and create different ways to tell your story.

When you remove color, you remove what your viewer is used to seeing. Now you need to find the stronger elements of the scene and figure out how to use them to convey what you want to portray.

4. Adds emotion or mood

Something about the variation in tonal ranges, rich blacks and deep contrasts appeals to us psychologically. This creates a connection that makes you stop and pay attention to what is depicted.

Many photographers use black and white images to describe their travels and street photography, as well as when depicting religious or cultural events. Monochrome in some genres connects and enhances emotions and moods.

5. Black and white photography is timeless

Even though this is the last item on the list, it is still one of the most common reasons why some photographers shoot in black and white. Monochrome photography is perceived all the time.

Black and white photographs seem to transcend reality and take you back in time. Historical color schemes that have been characteristic of certain types of film or trends in digital photography can indicate the date your images were created. Removing the color makes it impossible to find out when the image was taken.

Bonus

You no longer need to imagine what your scene will look like in black and white, as modern camera technology allows you to try it on the spot and see if it works. While some photographers prefer to shoot in black and white right away, others prefer to shoot in color and then process or convert their images to black and white to get a different or better tonal range.

Note. If you shoot in RAW format and set the settings to monochrome, the preview on the LCD will show the image in black and white. But all colors will be stored in the file data and will be available at the post-processing stage. It gives you the best of both worlds - a quick preview in black and white and the ability to convert later.

This image was shot in black and white using the camera's monochrome settings.

This image was taken in color and then converted to black and white.

Conclusion

While black and white photography still plays an important role in photography, please note that not all subjects transfer well to this mode. Even though a strong composition does not depend on color, sometimes the power of a photo is its color. That's why it's good to know when to use black and white.

If you're interested in monochrome, look for other compositional elements such as texture, shape, lines, and contrast. Experiment with shooting and processing black and white images and find out what you like best.