Tips For Shooting In Black And White

If you want to take pictures in black and white, it is good to take some things into account beforehand. Because although you can easily adjust a lot digitally with a free pc photo editor, not everything is possible afterward. Also, it is always a good idea to think about the result that you have in mind. It can only improve your photo and you learn a lot from it.

1. Camera Settings On Black And White

Do you have a compact camera? Most likely, you can set it to black and white. If you are sure that you want to photograph in black and white, it is best to put it on this. This way you immediately see what is beautiful and what is not and can adjust this. If you shoot in JPG, you cannot change the photo back to color later.

  1. Color Filters For More Contrast

Color filters over your lens, or later applied in Photoshop or Lightroom or any free pc photo editor, make some colors in black and white darker or lighter. For example, a red filter in post-processing makes all cool colors (purple / green / blue) darker and warm colors (yellow / orange / red) lighter. This gives you much more contrast in your photos.

3. Shoot In Raw

Details are just as important in black and white photos than in photos that are in color. This makes working with RAW files ideal. You can make the most of the contrast in your photo. From details in shadows to different shades in your highlights. Do you photograph a still subject? Then you can even take photos from a tripod with different exposures. This way you can be sure that enough detail is available in every part of the photo.

4. Look For Contrast In Light / Dark

Look for contrast in light/dark. Imagine taking a picture of yellow flowers in a lawn, everything bright in the sun. With a black and white conversion, this is a very boring photo because this photo is about the colors and not the light.