Black And White Photography Tip:
Turn Off Your Technicolor Mind
And Communicate
A valuable black and white photography tip is to prevent your creative mind from thinking color will carry the photo.
Once you clear this hurdle, your black and white photos will begin to corner the market on such composition values as contrast, texture and definition.
My career in photography was grounded in black and white roots. I learned to shoot B&W and use a darkroom to develop film and make prints. As a result, I looked at every scene in grayscale mode and learned not to be swayed by rich and overflowing color.When I entered the newspaper photography profession, it was a constant bombardment of shoots, thus giving me lots of practice to hone my education in black and white images. Upon arriving at a prospective setting, the first thing that hits a trained B&W photographer is the light. He observes the light source and its relationship with subject. As an experiment, do a full circle walk around your subject. Note the light's impact with each change in view. Direct light, side light and back light all produce varying moods. Some work for the photographer, some don't. The light can increase the contrast or flatten the tone. And yes, with HDR imaging you can still achieve successful black and white photos. Black and white photo tip: Look for lines and symmetry.
You should try the grunge setting on Photomatix. It does a cool job with high dynamic range black and white images (below).
Another tip: Look for texture and patterns.
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