Beauty of Black & White

Time changes and technology changes with it – from the box type cameras of yesteryears to digital ones of today, from film rolls to memory cards. But there is one thing time has not changed and will never change…. The beauty of black & white (BW) photography. There is no second thought that digital photography of present day captures all the colours, the depth, and action. However what BW photo captures best are the mood of the subject and the very essence of the scene a photographer wants to bring out.

Seeing and judging a BW photograph is one thing but being the eyes and brain behind the lens is a challenging task. You need to have good knowledge and understanding of how brightness and contrast can be controlled and how light & shadow work. Not to forget, a lot of patience and experimenting.

With this introduction let us begin our retro trip to the world of black and white photography.

BW photography was a lot more difficult when film rolls were used. However with the introduction of digital cameras, things have become comparatively simpler as you can see the result of your experiments in real-time.

First of all, when do you use BW photography? Usually the brighter colours will grab the attention in a colour photo. But if that is not the intended subject then the purpose of the photo is lost. Taking the same in BW will give more prominence to the subject. Also when there are lines, textures, patterns and emotions, BW will be more effective than colour.

There are basically two ways in which you can get a BW photograph. One is to take a colour photo and then transform it using photo editing software and second, by directly taking BW photographs.

The first method is rather easy if you have good photo editing skills. However there are few tips that can come handy in the process. The normal digital compact cameras store images in JPEG format (Joint Photographic Experts Group). This is a highly compressed but lossy format, meaning, it only stores required information about the image. DSLRs have the option of taking pictures in RAW format (lossless) in which every detail of the image is retained. In case you want to convert a colour image to BW, then it is advisable to use the RAW image format as it gives wider scope for editing. Though JPEG images can be edited effectively, RAW format provides the photographer with more flexibility. The only drawback is that RAW format eats up a lot of memory space. In case memory is not a major constraint for you, then you can start experimenting outside the conventional JPEG format.

Now coming to the second and harder way; an important factor in BW photography is contrast. Contrast can be described as the difference between dark and light. One needs a through understanding of how to adjust contrast to get the perfect shot. High contrast (extreme range between dark and light) can be used to make dramatic shots to grab the attention of the viewer towards the main subject, while lower contrast (smaller range) can be used for regular photographs. This can be done by varying the lighting and controlling the aperture and shutter speed. Another way of manipulating it is by making use of filters. For example a green filter can be used to lighten the green parts of your photo like grass which will differentiate it from the sky, a yellow filter will increase contrast between sky & clouds and diffusion filters can be used to reduce contrast. Also polarizing filters can be used to reduce unwanted reflections from the image. However, it is upto the photographer to decide the amount of contrast that will best convey the message and how to obtain it.

The next factor is ISO setting. Keeping ISO high increases the noise which will be more prominent in a BW photograph. One should be able to decide between 'good' and 'bad' noise. Meaning, in some cases, introducing a small amount of grains to the BW photograph gives an added effect making the photo look more like a painting. But care should be taken not to over do it. This effect can also be added using photo editing software.

With these basics you can try a hand in BW photography. If all you have is a compact digital camera with no BW mode, photo editing software always comes to the rescue. All you need is to keep trying and enjoy clicking!!

(Published in Star Of Mysore dated Aug. 26, 2010)