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.
Sepia toned image from a WWII celebration
If you liked these images and would like to see more of my photography, then please upvote, resteem and follow me as appropriate.
Cool shots again @steddyman. You have an eye for these.
Thanks mate, I appreciate the comment. I need to practise more as i've not been taking anywhere near as many recently. Like anything it needs practise.
Great shots. B&W has a very different atmosphere to colour, but it's one of those things that happened due to the original technology being limited.
Agreed. Those technology limitations taught skills that are missing for people brought up just with a phone camera. For example, I can remember when the only way to take photos was with a film camera where 20 shots cost £5. That really made you carefully consider the composition of your photo before committing the image to film. Now, you can just take a few hundred and sort through to find the one you like the best.
Wow. Think I just found my new Facebook profile pic here. 😀
I really enjoyed these thanks for posting.
Thanks Rebecca. I appreciate the support.
Great pictures @steddyman. this makes me want to get some decent equipment and try my hand at something like this.
Thanks. Most of these were with either my Nikon or Fuji camera which sadly I sold. I only have a Panasonic zoom ow which I bought for Macro work. My favourite camera of all time is the Fuji X100s and variants. I would love to buy another one.