Sometimes only Black & White will do!

Every year camera technology improves on both dedicated cameras and phone cameras. With each iteration comes higher pixel densities, higher dynamic range and deeper colour depth. However, i've always had a soft spot for black and white photography.

Bust in Lynmouth, Somerset

Dynamic range really helps with black and white photography. All of the images in this article were originally colour, but were then processed using the free Google Nik Collection - Silver Efex Pro plugin for Adobe Lightroom and tweaked for best results.

Candid photo at the park

The more contrast in a scene, the better it usually looks when converted into black and white. Even a simple photo of a spider at the zoo when processed properly can produce quite appealing results.

Spider at the zoo behind glass

The following photography of a tree had a very distinct bark texture, but it was lost against the sky. Converting to black and white and increasing the tonal contrast in the image re-produced what attracted me about the scene in the first place.

Spooky tree in the Lake District

This little fella was hanging above the ghost train at the local fair one summer. The white of the bandages didn't really stand out until the image was converted to black and white.

Boo!

The key to good black and white photography is finding images that the technique complements. Not every image will look right in black and white. For example a field of flowers would loose all its impact. It suits grimy, dark images especially well.

Fairground worker at the park

This final image was taken one sunny Saturday afternoon in Haworth a few years ago, at a World War II celebration festival. It was processed to sepia then aged appropriately using various effects. Unfortunately there is an rather ugly effect on the right of the image caused by trying to remove somebody that dated the photo inappropriately, but it gives you an idea of the results you can achieve with the technique.