My Love for Black and White Photography

I believe I mentioned that I’m going to pursue black and white photography with a vengeance next year.  I think lots of photographers overlook this style/genre of photography because, well, it’s the 21st century and there’s color photography now!  Yes, I know…but that doesn’t mean we should leave the black and white images on the cutting room floor.

The thing is, in many respects, black and white photography is much harder than color because you have to look at your subjects so differently.  When you’re photographing exactly what you see you can get instant feedback from your digital viewfinder to know if you like what you photographed or not but, if you are going to be doing the conversions in post-processing, you really don’t know what you have until you make the conversion…that is, until you have learned to “think” in terms of black and white images.

For instance, on the color wheel, certain colors are opposites and, therefore, look really great together on an image but, if those two opposite colors are almost exactly the same tonal range then they are going to make for one really sloppy looking black and white image.  You need tonal range in order to make most black and white images have some pop – something that will grab the viewer’s eye and keep them engaged.  So, instead of looking for colors that compliment each other you have to start viewing tonal range instead – and not everyone is good at that; it takes practice!

One way to get better at it is to look at every image you process and ask yourself, “Would I like this in black and white?” and then click that black and white adjustment layer in Photoshop and see if you were right at guessing if it would make for a good black and white image.  The more you do this the more you’ll be able to start “seeing” the tonal range beneath the color and that will translate into knowing in the field or at your computer if what you’ve photographed will be stronger in color or in black and white.

Another difference in photographing for black and white is that it lends itself really well to hard lines and geometric shapes.  Buildings, signs, automobiles – even people – will lend itself well to black and white photography if you look at it for tonal range as well.

Another plus for black and white photos is that they can be captured in almost any kind of lighting situation including full on midday sun.  Whereas with a color image we are constantly trying to keep the whites from overexposing and the shadows from underexposing all at the same time, that’s not always the case with black and white images.  In fact, if you really blow an exposure, save it and process it as a black and white image sometime and see what you think.  That harsher contrast can often make for a very powerful black and white image – but the same image in color would end up in the recycle bin.

Today I spent the morning walking around Kansas City’s largest and oldest shopping area – the Country Club Plaza – looking for opportunities to create some black and white images.  Even as the day went on and the sun was almost straight up in the sky I was still able to produce images that will make for some very interesting black and white photos.  I saw this woman walking by the parking garage and waited for her to get right at the edge of the frame before I clicked the shutter, wanting her black frame to be offset by the white edges of the garage.  I’m posting both the color version and the black and white so you can see how much stronger the black and white image is in this case.  The color version is fine…technically, it works…but in my opinion, the black and white image really grabs the viewer and draws them in to all those sloping shapes and hard angles.  Which, now, do you prefer?

The color version:

Or the black and white version?

Realigning My Inspiration

For the first several years of owning a DSLR I have pursued nature photography almost exclusively.  I dabbled in portraits and have photographed a few buildings here and there but, mostly, I’ve been in the woods and hanging out at local lakes catching up with anything that looked interesting.  It served me well; I learned so much about composition, lighting, my camera’s limitations, and my own limitations.  Then, one day earlier this year, I got bored.  Big time.  I could hardly stand to strap my camera around my neck because I knew I was going to be seeing the same old thing.  I tried everything I could think of to shake things up a bit but to no avail.  As I look back on my year of photographs I can see whole stretches of time where I photographed absolutely nothing worth keeping.  The stuff that was good certainly wasn’t great and the few images I really love aren’t very marketable so…

Where do I go from here?

I’ve been reading a lot of David DuChemin’s blogposts this week through the release of his new ebook titled, “Vision is Better 2″.  (He’s actually who inspired me to re-open this blog and try to pass on what I can to anyone who wants to read along.)  He reminded me that life really IS short and we have to get on with it, regardless of what gear is in our bag or what job we do from 9 to 5.  I’ve gleaned much deeper stuff from his writing, too, but the main thing that’s come out of all this reading is that Ican’t stay stuck in the muck of the mundane and  sit on my laurels.  I can never afford to stop moving forward in my life or my art.

In the past six months, I dropped out of moderating over at BirdPhotographers.net because I had seen it all so many times I simply couldn’t look at it any more.  I had critiqued over 11,000 images in the past 3 years and my ability to think of anything new to photograph in a way that would be inspirational to others was completely kaput.  I had run out of steam, out of interest, and out of will.  But, something funny happened along the way – I took a sabbatical and realized I love to write as much as I love photography and so I approached one of the owners at BirdPhotographers.net and asked if I could interview the other moderators and members, posting one new piece a week.  He jumped at the idea and we’re now in our 3rd week of interviews and everyone seems to be responding really positively to them.  Through my writing, I got my mojo back for photography and that brings me back to this blog.

So here I sit.  Now what?

I’ll tell you what.  Well, actually, I can’t tell you what yet because it’s a brand new idea and I don’t want to tip my hat but reading what David had to say this week got my creative juices flowing again and I have one doozy of an idea.  On top of that, I had decided to pursue my love of black and white photography throughout next year and this idea fits in perfectly with that part of my passion for photography.  I think I might be on to something…something so great and so inspirational to me and to so many others…well, we shall see.

But to say I’m stoked would be an understatement.

I’m so stoked that I’m making a list of all the crap I can sell so I can finally buy the few key pieces of gear that are missing from my bag and then watch out…I will be on a photographic rampage for the next two years as I birth this new idea of mine.

In the meantime, I’m thinking about all the things I want to write about here – about texture and mood and abstracts and pattern.  I’m thinking about how to find your voice as an artist and what to do once you hear it calling back to you.  I’m thinking about getting out there and living life so deeply that it hurts to crawl home each night.

I will always love nature and will, no doubt, always be a nature photographer at heart – but it’s time to realign my love for photography with something that will stretch me into the next frontier and produce not just another photo of a beautiful flower but the expression of beautiful emotion as well.

It makes me giddy just to think about it.

 

I’m No Pro

If you came here looking for advice on how to make the long climb from the amateur/hobbyist photographer that you are now to that of a professional who is well paid and living the good life while he hobnobs with the likes of David DuChemin and Scott Kelby, then you’re at the wrong place because I’m no pro.  I’m not even a semi-pro.  What I am is an artist who figured out she was an artist fairly late in life and who, now – for all intents and purposes – has lived, breathed, and dreamed photography for the past six years.

I don’t have any corporate sponsors who let me try out their hot new equipment before it hits the marketplace and I don’t write fancy product reviews telling you that you absolutely positively have to have this latest gizmo/gadget.  I read.  I shoot. I process. Occasionally, I print.  In between all that I walk the dogs, buy groceries, do the laundry and work a full-time job as an administrative assistant.  I dream in color and stop myself at least once a day to wonder what the world would be like if the clone tool could be used on people.  I want to photograph food while I eat, nature while I walk, buildings while I drive, and people while I socialize.  There’s not always a camera in my hand but there’s always the wish of holding a camera in my heart.

Once I realized I had to photograph things or die I sold an old life insurance policy so I could purchase a DSLR and a few choice lenses to get me on my way; that was January 2007.  I remember it so well because all of the packages arrived on my birthday even though they were scheduled to arrive a few days later.  I took that as a sign from God that I had finally found my true calling – my birth as an artist began on the same day as my physical birth some 47 years earlier.

So I guess the question for the day is…why hang out here?  Well, because photography is, above all else, a form of art – of self-expression.  Photography is not supposed to be primarily about gear and software and awards and publishers.  Ever hear a painter tell another painter they better get a certain kind of new paint that just hit the market or their work will never be taken seriously?  Of course not…but that’s what photography is coming to in many circles.  Let’s face it – there’s a lot of money to be made off of people like us who feel they have to shoot or die – and the marketing companies all know it.

In reality, though, photography is about seeking your true vision, finding the best light, composing a great scene within the confines of the camera’s frame and, ultimately, fulfilling as many of the image’s possibilities as you can.  The image – the art – could care less if you used a Canon or a Nikon or a Sony to capture the scene and it doesn’t have an opinion about whether you are going to process the image with an enlarger in a darkroom or Photoshop on your home computer.  The image – like all of us – simply wants to be the fulfillment of a dream for its Creator.  It should be noticed, contemplated, and studied.  It should open the viewer’s mind or heart or eyes.  It should evoke emotion and, thus, be sustained in the viewer’s memory.  It (again – like us) simply wants the world to be better for its having been here.  That is the illusion I currently chase – the goal I seek to fulfill before I die.  If you, like me, wish to get past what photography IS and look, instead, at what it could be, then welcome to my little corner of the Internet.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be talking about the “other side” of photography – the side we, as artists, come to know only if – and when – we allow ourselves to fully engage in it.  There will be technical help for beginners, thought provoking ideas for intermediates, and essays for anyone who has ten minutes to kill on a quiet Friday afternoon.  What you won’t get much of here is the commercial side of photography because I’ve found that nothing kills art faster than worrying about what to buy next.  So join me if you care to; I’d love to get to know you all and hope to learn as much from you as you learn from me.

A Fresh Start

After a long hiatus away, I have decided to re-open my photo blog.  I’ve wiped the slate clean and will be starting from scratch!

I’ll also be doing more writing than before and will primarily be discussing photography from my own personal standpoint as an artist, a consumer, and a critic.

I hope you’ll join me!