As far as I can remember, I’ve never taken a photograph in black and white, so I decided that it was high time to set my camera setting to monochrome, and see if I could take any decent shots without colour information. I admit that I am biased towards colour, especially for nature subjects, but I decided to give it a shot and experiment with the challenging conditions of black-white photography.
I did not carry out any post processing of the images beside cropping some of them to enhance detail. I used the built-in monochrome setting, but I am not familiar with the mechanics of how the camera turns the photo into black and white, such as a dedicated sensor (unlikely), in-camera software processing (likely), or elf magic (unknown).
Light is important for photography in general, but I realized that light for black and white photos was even more so. Without colour cues, a viewer has to discern the elements of a photo based on the variations of dark to light, which appears to be more difficult, at least for certain subjects.
It was a strange day weather-wise. About 20-30% of the sky was covered in dark clouds while the rest was a combination of upper atmosphere haze and bright blue sunny skies. This contrast was ideal for certain shots but not others.
As I quickly found out, nature shots were slightly more difficult in black and white than urban shots not just because of the light conditions but also the repetitive textures and forms of the natural environment. I will delve deeper into my experiences with black and white nature shots in another publication. Thank you for visiting.
I love that you’ve experimented with something new and shared it; black and white photography has a unique style where contrasts are really important. I particularly liked the second photo because of how the textures of the rocks stand out, and the photo of the tree with its massive trunk.
Lighting is very important, and it really brings out the contrasts. They say practice makes perfect, and I’m sure you’ll keep getting better at this. Great work!! Big hug!🤗
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Shooting in black and white was a revealing experience. It took more effort in terms of composition and choosing the right subject based on the light conditions and other variables. The second photo that you mentioned is a good example. As you can see, there are dark clouds in the distance but the rocks on the foreground are receiving full sun. This created an interesting effect between light and dark regions, as you also mentioned. It was a fun technical challenge.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. 📸
And I loved the photographs; it's a challenge, especially with the lighting, but it's very interesting. Thanks to you!
Thank you, @qurator and @scrooger!
Hello @litguru.
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It would be a shame not to include one of these images in our selection tomorrow. 🙂
It looks like I was late in reading your message. I haven't participated before, so I wasn't sure about the rules. I have another post in the works, so I'll take a closer look at the challenge. Thank you!