Tricks For Shooting Amazing Black and White Photographs

This one is for beginners. A lot of people are mesmerized by black and white photography, so here are some simple ways they can begin the journey of mastering the art.

Shoot in RAW

This is one neat tip that you learn after you spend some time experimenting with black and white pictures. A lot of cameras offer RAW. Yes, shooting in JPEG does not mean that you cannot shoot in black and white, but if your camera offers the option for RAW setting, then go with that one. It will make a whole lot of difference to the end result.

Composition

Here are some of the general tips on how to compose a frame. This is similar to what you look for when you are shooting in color. The main obvious difference is that you are unable to use color to highlight or lead the eye to a certain area. Therefore, it is essential that you train yourself to shoot from points of interest in your frames. In other words, look out for subjects and shadows that will automatically become highlights in the frame.

When to Shoot

A lot of digital photographers prefer to shoot images in low contrast. This is one of the finer things about black and white photography. The best scene to shoot for this is the one you shoot in a dark and overcast day. This is typically the day that most photographers stay indoors complaining about the poor light for photography. Dark and gloomy days have their uses for black and white photography.

Nothing Wrong with Shooting in Color

If you have a camera that does not allow you to shoot in RAW, you can always shoot in color first, and then convert the picture into black and white later on, even if your camera offers a separate black and white camera settings. The truth is that you will have more control over the end results if you do the color data conversion post production.

ISO

Remember to shoot your photographs with the lowest ISO settings. While it is a norm for photographers to do this only when they shoot in color, this is very important when it comes to black and white. The reason behind this is that with ISO if you shoot black and white photographs, the noise created by ISO becomes a lot more obvious.