Shootingandseeingin Black& White

Whydoblackandwhitephotographscontinuetoexcitesomanyphotographersofalllevels,whenwehavecamerasandtechniquesatourdisposalthatcancaptureeverycolorunderthe sun?

Wecanproducephotographsofspectacularcolorrangebutremovingthecolorfromaphotochangesthefocus—itshiftstheviewer’sattentonfromthecolorstothingsthatcanbemoreabstract,lessimmediatelynotceable,anditpresentstheworldtousinawaythatfewofusareusedtoseeing it.

CamerasettingsforBlackandwhite

• Imagetype- RAWorRAW+JPG• ISO- rangetomatchlightorgraininterest• WhiteBalance- AutoorMatchlightingsituation• Manualorsemimanualmodes(Shutter/AperturePriority)• Histogramonorcheckhistogramoccasionallywhenshooting

EXPOSURE: Defined in photography-• exposure istheamountoflightwhichreachesyourcamerasensororfilm.Itisacrucialpartofhow

brightordarkyourpicturesappear.• Thereareonlytwocamerasettingsthataffecttheactual“luminousexposure”ofanimage: shutter

speed and aperture.Thethirdsetting, cameraISO,alsoaffectsthebrightnessofyourphotos

Exposure Triangle

Three Pillars of photography

LawofreciprocityReciprocityisthelawoftherelationshipbetweenshutterandaperture.Itstipulatesthatonestopincreasesinapertureisequivalenttotheshutterdurationdoubling.Bothincreaselightbyonestop.

Exposure and understanding the Lightmeter

BRACKETING

AEBorAuto- willchangesettingsforyouUsingthe+/- youcanchangeasyoushoot

*DigitalphotoProtectyourhighlights!ETTR

METERING

Matrix Spot CenterWeighted

f/4.5@1/30 f/4.5@1/100 f/4.5@1/60

Matrix CenterWeighted Spotf/4.5@1/1,250 f/4.5@1/1,600 f/4.5@1/400

Standinginsun,shootingintoshade

Matrix CenterWeighted Spot

Standinginsun,shootingintoshade

Matrix CenterWeighted Spotf/4.5@1/1,250 f/4.5@1/400 f/4.5@1/320

LensFiltersFilterschangethedynamicsoflightenteringthelensandusuallyrequire

youtoalteryourexposuretocompensateforthisfact.

UVFilter/SkylightFilterUltravioletfiltersaretransparentfiltersthatblackultra-violetlight,inordertoreducethehazinessthatisnoticeablyapparentinsomedaylightphotography.

Goodasalensprotectorastheydonotaffectthemajorityofvisiblelight.

TherearesomestrongerUVfiltersthatcuttheatmospherichaze.

PolarizingFilterThisfilterisusedtodarkenoverlylightskiesasitincreasesthecontrastbetweencloudsandthesky.

Typicalfunctionofapolarizeristoremovereflectionfromwaterandglass

NeutralDensityFilterThisfilteruniformlyreducestheamountoflightenteringthelens.TheNDfilterishelpfulwhenthecontrastbetweenhighlightsandshadowistoogreattogetaqualityexposure.Alsoenablesgreatermotionblurringandimagedetailallowinglargeapertureandoraslowshutterspeedtobeused.

FiltersforB&WPhotographyTherearespecificfiltersforB&Wphotographythatlightensimilarcolorsanddarkenoppositecolors,enhancingthemonochromaticlook.

Red,orange,yellow,greenandbluefilters-landscapephotographerslikeredfilterstoadddramatothesky.

Yellowwillalsoaddmoredramatoskybringingoutclouds.

DynamicRange&Tonal Contrast

• DynamicRage- isthedifferencebetweenthedarkestandlightesttonesinanimage,generallypureblackandpurewhite.It’smoreoftenusedtotalkaboutthemaximumdynamicrangeacameraiscapableof.• Sometimesdescribedintermsof”Stops”• Anincreaseofonestopequalsadoublingofthebrightnesslevel.• Adecreaseofonestopequalsonehalfofthebrightnesslevel.

• Tonalcontrastcanbebrokendownintothree categories:• HIGH,NORMAL,AND LOW

• HIGH-contrastimageconsistsprimarilyofwhiteandblackwithverylittle gray.

• NORMAL-contrastimageconsistsofabalanceofall three.

• LOW-contrastimagecanappearveryflatsincethere’slittledistinctionbetweencolorsortoneswithinthe image.

Ansel Adams

SallyMann

Lewis Baltz

Sebastiao Salgado

HenriCartier-Bresson

Robert Frank

Irving Penn

High--Keyiswherethepictureisalllightvalues.Low--Keyiswherethepictureisalldarkvalues.

High key

Harry Callahan

Minor White

MichaelKenna

Low key

Ray Metzker

HiroshiSugimoto

WinstonChurchillbyYousuf Karsh

Light&Shadow

Ray Metzker

Texture

EdwardWeston

AaronSiskind

AnselAdams

BenHeine