Back in the 80s, when I was starting out working for newspapers, BW was the only choice. In order to get a feel for tones, I got a blue gel filter to look through. It worked very well, robbing the colors in a given scene, and concentrating the eye to shape, light and shadow. After a few days, the lesson was learned. Don't know if this adds to the conversation, but it was a big help to me in the early PJ days.
Also during the 80s, I learned that lesson in much the same way - except that I mostly used a red filter to get a better grasp on increasing contrast. Stacking the red with a polarizer is a great way to add drama to the sky. Even now with digital, I often shoot with the picture control set to monochrome, and with the various internal contrast filters to give me an idea of how the final image might look.
You either see in B&W or you don't, really don't think we turn this on and off. Started my journey in 1972 at 14yrs old and have done B&W from day one and never tire from it. Bought a Lumix X85 for the fact I have 3 presets in jpeg and the viewfinder image really helps, as it is in B&W also. Still shoot film with a wet darkroom also!!!!
Let’s change some words here. It’s not B&W or monochrome. It’s luminosity which is being recorded, and through doing so it forms the skeleton over which is draped the flesh of colour, otherwise known as chroma. It is possible to train one’s eyes to see simultaneously in both luminosity and chroma. It is possible to add and subtract colour to drape a monochrome scene and make it look convincing in colour, but you need a great monochrome image to start with. I love all the photographers you have shown, but my favourite is Sebastian Salgado who really understands this.
Very interesting. So how do we train our eyes (or should it be brain) to see luminosity and chroma simultaneously? Are there any techniques or exercises which one can use to help achieve this? Sebastiao Salgado's photography is absolutely breathtaking isn’t it.
@@anthonybailey7628 we are attuned immediately to subtle changes in luminosity, whereas with changes in colour they seem to sneak up on us gradually before we finally take notice. This is why I talk about luminosity as the skeleton upon which the flesh of colour is draped; the skeleton lasting considerably longer. So, when composing in monochrome/B&W/luminosity - ignore individual colours other than being an adjacent tone to another colour as a tone. It also helps to visualise luminosity by setting a digital camera’s electronic viewfinder to B&W.
@9:26 is why I love this channel. Most people would cut it out or record it. Not here, here the photographers and their photography is what's most important, and being authentic when talking about their work really makes this channel an extra type of special
I love Black and White photography, its what my old dad taught me, He used to develop his own and had a little darkroom at home. My dads old job was a printer and he used to also do the lithoplates. Love your videos.
I did a recent self project of shooting in Black and White. Black and White allows me to bring out the textures of an object, as well as the light and shadow. This time of the year has strong light and shadow, which is great for Black and White imagery. Thanks for sharing a great video!
Regarding your comment towards 7:00, a subject's lightness/darkness in BN will be affected depending on the subject's hue, saturation and lightness, colors will reflect light differently depending on these factors. In your case, your skin may be light but also has a "red" hue to it, so for a BN photo, a blue or green background will most likely have the biggest contrast under an evenly lit situation. I just recently stumbled upon your channel and have found it incredibly uself, given your focus on thinking the image instead of just worrying about gear.
Yeah, Schaller's work is really fantastic! His use of light and shadow in his street photography is brilliant and reminds me a lot of Fan Ho's work. I've only seen his stuff on Instagram though. Does he have any monographs or anything in print?
@@praveenp1369 lol, I usually post with a white border, it helps me keep the aspect ratio of my photo without Instagram cropping it. Instagram is just not good for photographers haha
Excellent piece! I started out shooting both color (Kodachrome) and Tri-X back in the late 1970's. Once I started delving more into b&w with the books of Ansel Adams, I knew that is the way I wanted to go. While Adams got my thrill of b&w started with his books, it was the subject matter of HCB that inspired my desire to hopefully, one day, be a newspaper shooter. I did finally achieve that goal after a successful career in electronics and engineering raising a family but I have to say that working for a small town weekly newspaper that showcased photography was the highlight of my working career. All of the prints I have personally made, either digitally or in the wet darkroom, have been b&w and, having sold all my digital pro gear, I am enjoying relearning the Sunny 16 rule with Tri-X in a vintage Yashica Electro35 GS. Love your channel and will continue to revisit each time you post. Thanks for taking the time to put together something more than gear talks!
1:10 The Tetons ! Just west of my home, a sight I looked at them every day ( that it wasn't too snowy ) as I was growing up in Jackson, WY. love'm love'm love'm !
Thanks Alex, just another inspiring video. Usually I only do black and white conversions for my infrared photography, but tonight I may go out with my standard camera and shoot some flowers, trees, landscape, whatever I can find. Thanks again
Fan Ho has long been my favourite. Some people in the past have pointed out that his photography was dramatically staged (it was - he was also a film director) and therefore it was somehow 'fake'. But, for me, the main difference between him and Ansell Adams is that the content of Adams' photos moved infinitesimally slowly compared to that of Fan Ho. So the latter found a good way to slow his content down. Other than that, they are both great examples of how to capture the luminance in a scene to its best advantage. And I think that their approaches to photography are applicable across the board, no matter what style or genre one shoots.
Excellent presentation! A year ago I bought and now shoot exclusively with a Leica Q2 Monochrom: it removes the prejudice of color. I now seem to see the world in shapes of light vs colors of light.
You can use liveview on your camera to see what the scene will look like in b&w. On Nikon you can also create your own color b&w profiles to simulate high/low contrast film, or add a red color filter etc (Picture Control Utility). This can be useful when looking for a composition when out in the field, in PS/Lightroom you can tweak the settings to your liking. Thanks for the excellent video!
In addition to fine tuning the monochrome picture control in camera, I also adjust the white balance manually (either in camera or in post) to give me yet another means of contrast control. I found that lowering the color temperature can nearly replicate the effect of a polarizer on a blue sky when used along with either red or orange filtering.
Excellent post. Thanks. Having a firm understanding of “visual hierarchy” is very helpful in working between color and BW. As you mentioned we can remove color to “smush” things together where color might have separated them. Or we can remove color and focus on contrast or texture to separate things that would have melded together in color. Not understanding how color/BW interact with visual hierarchy is, I think, a main cause of some photographers being disappointed in their BW conversions. Something else to keep in mind is that BW and color are not at odds with one another photographically. They carry no relative weight or value against one another and are simply distinct ways of seeing or showing with images. Be careful not to fall into the trap of believing a BW conversion is simply a way to revive or enhance an otherwise mediocre color image.
I'm other words garbage in, garbage out. The cinematographers of the before color era tended to be far more skilled in their command of their craft than those who followed with color, which sort of homogenizes an image. Using B & W and the power of shadows and the contrasts of light in and of itself lent depth, emotion and character to a scene that, in the hands of a master, could almost exponentially increase its artistic impact and significance.
I first discovered Anton when I picked up the U2 album Joshua Tree. I fell in love with his tonal range and the gritty look of his work. When I worked with film I tried so hard to emulate that look with different exposures and development techniques. I did come out with my own style which has shown up in my digital work. Thanks for the post. It makes me want to go back to 35mm black and white film and processing.
Have you ever imagined, if you would, what a photograph of a soul would look like. Excuse the macabre nature of that thought, but to me, that is what Black & White is so good at. It peals back the layers of the onion to reveal the basic elements of your subject. Fantastic video….very insightful…Thank you
A good way to start to see in BW are the mirrorless cameras. Personally I use Fujifilm for that and created a "reciept" in camera that gives.me a JPG the way I like it. I always shoot in JPG+RAW but by being able to create a "formula" for BW in the camera helps a lot for both looking at the scene in BW but also reduces the PP requirement on a great degree.
a better way to start to see in Black and White is to shoot film. the process of shooting film will get you into actually seeing in Black and White better than any other process.
@@orion7741 been there done that in the 90’s. Have better ways to spend my money. Like travel. ;) spending money on film, developers, scanning and even printing was something I did for quite some time.
I only just caught the last couple of minutes of the premiere and had to go back to the beginning to get the context for everything :-). You always lay your thoughts out in a way that builds and is easy to follow and understand. B&W is near and dear to my heart. It was what my father gave me to start out with ( I won't say how long ago that was because it is long ago). Not sure if that had an influence on my preferences over the years but when I went to digital I continued to shoot many images with the intent of turning them B&W in post. Now with mirrorless cameras you get to see B&W through the camera too which is amazing! Just over a year ago I began shooting film again and my choice was B&W. It has grown into a bit of an obsession to the point where if I load a roll of colour film I can't decide on what to shoot LoL! Strangely, I don't have that issue if I am shooting digital. Shooting B&W so much has really taught me to focus (just like you said) on shape, form, light, shadow, and contrast. Even scenes that most would think should be photographed in colour can be rendered in a very interesting and unexpected way in B&W - recently I photographed a forest scene in autumn colour on B&W film and I love the result! Thanks for doing what you do! I look forward to all of your videos!
I think the phrase seeing in black and white is a bit of a mysterious concept for the beginner, as are some basic words like "tone". I like to explain the situation in terms of the brightness level of the color in and image (tone). For example (examples for the best lessons) red and green of the same brightness level will be indistinguishable in black and white. There is only contrast: a little or a lot.
Thank you a helpful and enjoyable video. I have wrestled with black and white hotography for decades and never quite settled with it. My eyesight is unusually sensitive and colours pop out everywhere, the way my brain processes sight is unusual which is one reason photogrphy is so interesting to me, I see more colour than most people. I have been trying for so long to see past colours into tones and record them. I am also synesthesic and for me colours have a taste giving them more power, the absence of colour does not taste meaning I have to rely on sight only which is a strange thing to me. Your video has given me something else to use to get beyond colour and taste into tones.
If you've been catching up on Expressive Photography videos, you know how much Alister talks about contrast and luminosity. That's what monochrome is all about. I mainly shoot landscapes in color, but I've shot more B&W this year than ever before and I plan to use more monochrome in my work. The easiest way for me to "see in black and white" is to take off my glasses and squint. Forms become indistinct and colors become muted, but contrast and luminosity become more evident.
In addition to the aforementioned greats I applaud and acknowledge two great sources of inspiration: James Vanderzee and Jane Bown who pulled me out of the ennui I was experiencing when I felt I had no focus or purpose in photography.
For sure it is easier to compose a shot in B+W than colour, ie a strong red in the wrong place is going to drag your eye to it If you look at some of the minimalistic colour work of Franco Fontana or the work of Maarten Rots then colour adds to it. As you said it is wise to see in B+W which is great on EVFs as you just switch it to mono and with various film sims and custom settings you get a good idea of the end result.
My favorite Black and White photographers are for sure Jacob Aue Sobol and Daidō Moriyama. I learned about their work in college and I even met Jacob Aue Sobol in person at Paris Photo as we had an excursion with our lecturer.
I end up editing a lot of my photos to b&w. It started when I tried out a tip I got about how to decide if an image is worth keeping. The idea was to try every photo in b&w when editing. If it doesen´t work stripped of coulors it´s missing something in composition. So I went through with this for a long time and found myself converting fewer and fewer images back to colour.
When I shoot digital (I shoot mainly b&w film), I set my evf to monochrome. It allows me to see what the image will look like and not be distracted by colors. I shoot in RAW so I can still play with RGB sensitivity and balance in the final b&w image.
@@secondstage4272 All the Fuji sensors handle B&W very well. Even the pre-Acros sensors (XTrans 1 and 2) take great B&W's with the BWr preset. The XRro1 is a terrific camera for B&W. Makes you wonder if you need to spend $12,000 on a monochrome-only camera in fact.
Terrific video. Over the last year, I have been doing more and more black and white photography. Everything you discussed is something I need to practice to get better. Thanks.
When I shoot B/W I always turn my EVF in B/W, it will improve your shooting so much !!. And don't be afraid of over exposed whites, they often will help you. Color shots will show you a person, B/W will show you their soul !!!!
Actually this will hinder your ability to really see in black and white because you need your eyes to recognize contrast and tonality range - i understand that turning your viewfinder to BNW is easy but with time it won’t help you improve beyond a specific point.
@@the7thobserver700 Recognising contrast YOU DO IN B/W so you are not hindered by color information in the frame. Bright blue will turn in to dark shadows and dark green will light up in B/W something you will not think off when seeing color. Check out the color wheel translation for color to B/W
@@RS-Amsterdam I totally understand the color wheel best photos taking in black and white was done through an optical viewfinder which means colors are the only thing photographers saw the conversion, tonality range, color translations of luminous, intensity was mainly done by the eyes not through an EVF hence the comment it is better to always practice this for your eyes to get better but feel free to use whatever gets you there.
For years I’ve tried to like black and white photography but I just couldn’t get into it, and I don’t know whether it's the beautiful examples you show while you're talking, what you talk about or just how well you colour graded and lit the footage of yourself, but now I’m suddenly all into it, even if it's just for the sake of learning to do better colour photography. I can for instance see how an experiment of taking black-and-white JPEGs for composition and using that as a reference and inspiration for how I grade the raw file in color would be educational, useful, inspiring, broadening, refining and all the other adjectives running through my head. I'm so excited! Edit: I just tried this out by taking BW photos in the harsh 12:00 winter sunlight and then first upping the saturation in the shadow areas and making a grading scale that progressively lowers the luminance with the saturation. It looks like classic, analog photography! Now I think growing up on BW photography is probably the reason (besides unparalleled talent) that legendary photographers like Saul Leiter where so effective
I love black and white photography but rarely try it. I know I can set my viewfinder to black and white but I'm convinced the sort of images I like have been heavily post processed. The black and white images I've taken that I liked were edited in Nik Silver Efex. I've seen a couple of tutorials in Photoshop that look good but I just don't find Photoshop intuitive to use which is probably why actions and presets are popular. Still trying to find my ideal solution to achieve the black and white images I want.
I’m actually completely colour blind, and completely relate to this. Colour has zero influence on what I shoot, it’s merely about light and dark and what shapes/lines are created.
This gave me some helpful new perspectives on the benefits of and techniques for black and white photography, and the examples are wonderful. "Epic" is a perfect description for Sebastiao Salgado's work; he's one of my favorite photographers. Thank you.
As a complete novice, just getting back into B&W after many years, This is extremely helpful. All of these photographs in this vid are quite inspiring. I sure would like to know the settings were used for these photos presented. The photo @5:56 is absolutely stunning!
Ray Metzker, Matt Black, Trent Parke, Michael Kenna, knox bertie, Abbas, lee friedlander, Sergio Lauren, Lartigue and many more maybe future episodes 👍❤️
Thank you for another excellent presentation. Totally agree about Adams. The key to his method was not in the exposure/developing/printing. It was in the pre-visualization. He decided ahead of time the outcome he wanted and used his technical skill to achieve it.
One theme here.....every photographer here is a film shooter(unless I missed one); Much harder getting these results with a digital sensor because the Achilles hell of digital is highlight gradation since black & white is all about the highlights and film overloads gracefully into white whereas digital's highlights clip abruptly and look terrible once it hits white since there is no gradual overload to white unlike film. Monochrome sensors also suffer from the same issue as well. (edit; this is not a hipster anti-digital comment...color photography in digital is far easier for great results) You really need to think different when shooting digital and it's more complicated than using a Fujifilm preset or a Leica monochrome camera.
100% agree here. Digital characteristics do not match how our eyes see since film mimics human vision much more closely than digital. For example when humans look at dark shadows in real life we can't ascertain the information(it's just gone) whereas a digital sensor can pull out shadow detail. Film does the same thing as our eyes; which is why you expose for the highlights since film(like our eyes) do not simply clip-off highlights. Thats one of the big reasons why in the cinema world ARRI cameras are beloved as they handled the subtle fall-off off highlights much more like film compared to other cameras.
@@Rim00909E So does underexposing in digital not make up for this then? I’m genuinely interested to know. Wouldn’t under exposing make the shadows dark enough to mimic what our eyes can (or cannot) see, and somewhat mitigate the clipping of the highlights? Or would the mid tones and contrast suffer?
@@anthonybailey7628 You are correct. To sum up the most common issue with digital b&w I would say; 1) depressed mid-tones, 2) Excessive contrast 3)over-sharpening. Very high level approach; -shoot raw -underexpose for headroom so you retain highlight detail. -correct midtones(curve) in post. Most digital conversions have depressed mid-tones -Stay away from the urge to sharpen you image -Stay away from the urge to pump up contrast -Look into using vintage lens to reduce the clinical modern look -Study direct comparisons between digital and film of the same scene(plenty examples online). Identify the nuance differences in the midtones, highlights and shadows.
A spent a period when I had my digital camera take only black and white pictures, simply to be able to see immediatley what my images looked like without colour. That was a wonderfully productive learning experience.
One thing I love about B&W photography is that annoying traffic cone is no longer annoying. In color that one cone would drive the viewer quickly away.
As someone who typically works in black and white, your points are sound! Someone else in the comments mentioned Alan Schaller - excellent photographer! David Yarrow also comes to mind. Salgado is perhaps one of my favorites alongside Paul Strand and Ansel/Edward Weston. Excellent video! It is always encouraging to hear more about black and white photography!
Wow the video bits had magic! I felt like I was seeing something IMPORTANT because it was made BY THE OLD ONES lol. I grew up when a lot of black and white movies were still shown on television, and there were few channels so you'd be more likely to have seen them. I wonder if they have the same resonance for the majority of younger folks (I'm mid 50s). I guess it's not a numbers game - it's art after all - but I do feel sad that there's such a rich library of gorgeous art and craft that might be increasingly overlooked. Anyway for some reason this year I have found myself drawn to black and white, so this video was very timely as I get ready to transition from the initial gathering / feeding phase into the okay go try this phase. Thank you for sharing this.
Enjoyed the video. I enjoy dabbling in black and white once in a while, when I was taking photography courses, we were only allowed to shoot black and white except on rare occasions. Ansel Adams is among my favorite photographers, I really get a lot of inspiration from his work. His work is also featured in that book 'Timeless Images by Arizona Highways' that I mentioned a few videos back. I really like looking at his landscape work.
Danke, Thank you for talking about 'black & white' photography..............I prefer to shoot mostly in this way, as it fore fills my love of photography in a way colour can not do. I enjoy your UA-cam videos. Keep shooting. Phil...🦊📷
I began with B&W because that is what "serious" photographers were supposed to shoot. Although I think that idea is silly, it did help make me better. When I started taking colour seriously, my goal was to make a shot that would look good in B&W as well. My understanding has matured and I realise that colour isn't less serious or less artistic. They each allow different takes on making images. I dislike the talk of "fixing it in post" or that one can "get it right" in camera. One should strive to take the best image for one's purpose that one can, but the darkroom is a significant part of photography.
BW unifies the scene. I don't like shooting digital and then deciding to convert the images. I prefer shooting film, grab a camera loaded with BW stock and head out. I am committed. (you can of course set your camera to output BW jpeg.) It can feel limiting, not every scene translates - but BW can deliver a deep sense of satisfaction. The tones of sunset clouds, a colorful flower rendered in satin white. Also when starting out, learning to edit color can be very difficult. Thanks Alec-
Still love your videos. The links you provide are also very educational and informative. The links YOU provide also show that your videos are about photography, about us and not about you. You are the least unselfish UA-camr I have ever seen and I am very grateful and thankful for finding your channel.
I have just started watching your channel and although all the content is very worthwhile I found this offering of special interest as I use B&W often. Using a monotone screen on the camera has aided me not only in B&W but also in color (sorry, colour). I do agree with the points you make but I felt there was particular point that might have been unintentionally a bit limiting. To see the photo in B&W is, of course, desired. Yet to develop that skill I have found that post-processing color images to B&W aided me in developing the "eye," to learn what works and what does not. Also, I would like to mention, Jeremy Walker from your side of pond as a very good B&W photographer.
An interesting discussion on B&W. Have saved for future reference ... you might have got me my next photo project. Thank you as always for such excellent and thoughtful content.
It was so nice to see someone showcase the greats of our time .I love Immogen Cunningham and Edward Weston . I love photo history and think it’s so worth learning about . Great video
Excellent! 👌 This video came at an opportune moment as winter is coming and colours are leaving Northern Europe. Time to turn on B&W on the camera display and stop obsessing about ETTR.
Absolutely wonderful video. Once, I started intentionally going out and shooting in black and white it's been a great help to the rest of my photography. One of the main benefits of shooting mirrorless is being able to set it to black and white even in the evf to really see the world without color.
Love this video. I have been drawn to shooting (early film efforts) to current digital B&W. I find myself having to stop from changing my color photos to BW.
Back in the 80s, when I was starting out working for newspapers, BW was the only choice. In order to get a feel for tones, I got a blue gel filter to look through. It worked very well, robbing the colors in a given scene, and concentrating the eye to shape, light and shadow. After a few days, the lesson was learned. Don't know if this adds to the conversation, but it was a big help to me in the early PJ days.
Thank you. That is a very helpful suggestion. I knew that a blue filter could do that but had forgotten.
Also during the 80s, I learned that lesson in much the same way - except that I mostly used a red filter to get a better grasp on increasing contrast. Stacking the red with a polarizer is a great way to add drama to the sky. Even now with digital, I often shoot with the picture control set to monochrome, and with the various internal contrast filters to give me an idea of how the final image might look.
I can't emphasize enough how much value I get out of these videos. I am truly grateful for your knowledge and your willingness to share.
Yousuf Karsh.
Thank you TPE for yet another thoughtful offering.
Infrared black & white images are my favorites. 💛
You either see in B&W or you don't, really don't think we turn this on and off. Started my journey in 1972 at 14yrs old and have done B&W from day one and never tire from it. Bought a Lumix X85 for the fact I have 3 presets in jpeg and the viewfinder image really helps, as it is in B&W also. Still shoot film with a wet darkroom also!!!!
Let’s change some words here. It’s not B&W or monochrome. It’s luminosity which is being recorded, and through doing so it forms the skeleton over which is draped the flesh of colour, otherwise known as chroma. It is possible to train one’s eyes to see simultaneously in both luminosity and chroma. It is possible to add and subtract colour to drape a monochrome scene and make it look convincing in colour, but you need a great monochrome image to start with. I love all the photographers you have shown, but my favourite is Sebastian Salgado who really understands this.
Very interesting. So how do we train our eyes (or should it be brain) to see luminosity and chroma simultaneously? Are there any techniques or exercises which one can use to help achieve this? Sebastiao Salgado's photography is absolutely breathtaking isn’t it.
@@anthonybailey7628 we are attuned immediately to subtle changes in luminosity, whereas with changes in colour they seem to sneak up on us gradually before we finally take notice. This is why I talk about luminosity as the skeleton upon which the flesh of colour is draped; the skeleton lasting considerably longer. So, when composing in monochrome/B&W/luminosity - ignore individual colours other than being an adjacent tone to another colour as a tone. It also helps to visualise luminosity by setting a digital camera’s electronic viewfinder to B&W.
@9:26 is why I love this channel. Most people would cut it out or record it. Not here, here the photographers and their photography is what's most important, and being authentic when talking about their work really makes this channel an extra type of special
I love Black and White photography, its what my old dad taught me, He used to develop his own and had a little darkroom at home. My dads old job was a printer and he used to also do the lithoplates. Love your videos.
I did a recent self project of shooting in Black and White. Black and White allows me to bring out the textures of an object, as well as the light and shadow.
This time of the year has strong light and shadow, which is great for Black and White imagery.
Thanks for sharing a great video!
Michael McKenna is another master of B&W. I love his work.
9:51 "Anton Corbjin was - or is - a rock"
Amazing
Regarding your comment towards 7:00, a subject's lightness/darkness in BN will be affected depending on the subject's hue, saturation and lightness, colors will reflect light differently depending on these factors. In your case, your skin may be light but also has a "red" hue to it, so for a BN photo, a blue or green background will most likely have the biggest contrast under an evenly lit situation. I just recently stumbled upon your channel and have found it incredibly uself, given your focus on thinking the image instead of just worrying about gear.
Alan Schaller does some great work with a Leica monochrome. Just more modern and it’s great to see work that future photographer’s might aspire to.
Other great street photographers who shoot B&W: Phil Penman, Peter Turnley, Mark Fearnley, JC Cabral. I believe Peter uses an M10 monochrome as well
Yeah, Schaller's work is really fantastic! His use of light and shadow in his street photography is brilliant and reminds me a lot of Fan Ho's work. I've only seen his stuff on Instagram though. Does he have any monographs or anything in print?
Only thing that bothers me is the white outlets in is insta grids it makes it uncomfortable to watch
@@praveenp1369 lol, I usually post with a white border, it helps me keep the aspect ratio of my photo without Instagram cropping it. Instagram is just not good for photographers haha
I love his work too. Modern Fan Ho..❤❤❤
Excellent piece! I started out shooting both color (Kodachrome) and Tri-X back in the late 1970's. Once I started delving more into b&w with the books of Ansel Adams, I knew that is the way I wanted to go. While Adams got my thrill of b&w started with his books, it was the subject matter of HCB that inspired my desire to hopefully, one day, be a newspaper shooter. I did finally achieve that goal after a successful career in electronics and engineering raising a family but I have to say that working for a small town weekly newspaper that showcased photography was the highlight of my working career. All of the prints I have personally made, either digitally or in the wet darkroom, have been b&w and, having sold all my digital pro gear, I am enjoying relearning the Sunny 16 rule with Tri-X in a vintage Yashica Electro35 GS.
Love your channel and will continue to revisit each time you post. Thanks for taking the time to put together something more than gear talks!
1:10 The Tetons ! Just west of my home, a sight I looked at them every day ( that it wasn't too snowy ) as I was growing up in Jackson, WY. love'm love'm love'm !
Thanks Alex, just another inspiring video. Usually I only do black and white conversions for my infrared photography, but tonight I may go out with my standard camera and shoot some flowers, trees, landscape, whatever I can find. Thanks again
Thanks for watching
Fan Ho has long been my favourite. Some people in the past have pointed out that his photography was dramatically staged (it was - he was also a film director) and therefore it was somehow 'fake'. But, for me, the main difference between him and Ansell Adams is that the content of Adams' photos moved infinitesimally slowly compared to that of Fan Ho. So the latter found a good way to slow his content down. Other than that, they are both great examples of how to capture the luminance in a scene to its best advantage. And I think that their approaches to photography are applicable across the board, no matter what style or genre one shoots.
a majority of famous "candid" shots were staged.....Eventually people will stop lying about it and accept it. lol.
Excellent presentation!
A year ago I bought and now shoot exclusively with a Leica Q2 Monochrom: it removes the prejudice of color. I now seem to see the world in shapes of light vs colors of light.
This was just fantastic. Outstanding content for those who want to take it to the next level.
Unfortunateley great photography is no longer widely appreciated, especially on social media where everyone is an expert.
You can use liveview on your camera to see what the scene will look like in b&w. On Nikon you can also create your own color b&w profiles to simulate high/low contrast film, or add a red color filter etc (Picture Control Utility). This can be useful when looking for a composition when out in the field, in PS/Lightroom you can tweak the settings to your liking.
Thanks for the excellent video!
In addition to fine tuning the monochrome picture control in camera, I also adjust the white balance manually (either in camera or in post) to give me yet another means of contrast control. I found that lowering the color temperature can nearly replicate the effect of a polarizer on a blue sky when used along with either red or orange filtering.
Excellent post. Thanks. Having a firm understanding of “visual hierarchy” is very helpful in working between color and BW. As you mentioned we can remove color to “smush” things together where color might have separated them. Or we can remove color and focus on contrast or texture to separate things that would have melded together in color. Not understanding how color/BW interact with visual hierarchy is, I think, a main cause of some photographers being disappointed in their BW conversions. Something else to keep in mind is that BW and color are not at odds with one another photographically. They carry no relative weight or value against one another and are simply distinct ways of seeing or showing with images. Be careful not to fall into the trap of believing a BW conversion is simply a way to revive or enhance an otherwise mediocre color image.
I'm other words garbage in, garbage out. The cinematographers of the before color era tended to be far more skilled in their command of their craft than those who followed with color, which sort of homogenizes an image. Using B & W and the power of shadows and the contrasts of light in and of itself lent depth, emotion and character to a scene that, in the hands of a master, could almost exponentially increase its artistic impact and significance.
I first discovered Anton when I picked up the U2 album Joshua Tree. I fell in love with his tonal range and the gritty look of his work. When I worked with film I tried so hard to emulate that look with different exposures and development techniques. I did come out with my own style which has shown up in my digital work.
Thanks for the post. It makes me want to go back to 35mm black and white film and processing.
Have you ever imagined, if you would, what a photograph of a soul would look like. Excuse the macabre nature of that thought, but to me, that is what Black & White is so good at. It peals back the layers of the onion to reveal the basic elements of your subject. Fantastic video….very insightful…Thank you
A good way to start to see in BW are the mirrorless cameras. Personally I use Fujifilm for that and created a "reciept" in camera that gives.me a JPG the way I like it. I always shoot in JPG+RAW but by being able to create a "formula" for BW in the camera helps a lot for both looking at the scene in BW but also reduces the PP requirement on a great degree.
a better way to start to see in Black and White is to shoot film. the process of shooting film will get you into actually seeing in Black and White better than any other process.
@@orion7741 been there done that in the 90’s. Have better ways to spend my money. Like travel. ;) spending money on film, developers, scanning and even printing was something I did for quite some time.
Thank you so much for this video. Fantastic.. I start shooting in black and white and this video is so helpful. ❤❤❤❤
I only just caught the last couple of minutes of the premiere and had to go back to the beginning to get the context for everything :-). You always lay your thoughts out in a way that builds and is easy to follow and understand. B&W is near and dear to my heart. It was what my father gave me to start out with ( I won't say how long ago that was because it is long ago). Not sure if that had an influence on my preferences over the years but when I went to digital I continued to shoot many images with the intent of turning them B&W in post. Now with mirrorless cameras you get to see B&W through the camera too which is amazing! Just over a year ago I began shooting film again and my choice was B&W. It has grown into a bit of an obsession to the point where if I load a roll of colour film I can't decide on what to shoot LoL! Strangely, I don't have that issue if I am shooting digital. Shooting B&W so much has really taught me to focus (just like you said) on shape, form, light, shadow, and contrast. Even scenes that most would think should be photographed in colour can be rendered in a very interesting and unexpected way in B&W - recently I photographed a forest scene in autumn colour on B&W film and I love the result! Thanks for doing what you do! I look forward to all of your videos!
I found you channel today, and so far, I have found tons of inspiration. Thanks a lot for this wonderful explanation!
There is a lot to say about this subject. You managed to say most of it in this short video. Thanks for making the case for BW photography!
I think the phrase seeing in black and white is a bit of a mysterious concept for the beginner, as are some basic words like "tone". I like to explain the situation in terms of the brightness level of the color in and image (tone). For example (examples for the best lessons) red and green of the same brightness level will be indistinguishable in black and white. There is only contrast: a little or a lot.
Thank you a helpful and enjoyable video. I have wrestled with black and white hotography for decades and never quite settled with it. My eyesight is unusually sensitive and colours pop out everywhere, the way my brain processes sight is unusual which is one reason photogrphy is so interesting to me, I see more colour than most people. I have been trying for so long to see past colours into tones and record them. I am also synesthesic and for me colours have a taste giving them more power, the absence of colour does not taste meaning I have to rely on sight only which is a strange thing to me. Your video has given me something else to use to get beyond colour and taste into tones.
If you've been catching up on Expressive Photography videos, you know how much Alister talks about contrast and luminosity. That's what monochrome is all about. I mainly shoot landscapes in color, but I've shot more B&W this year than ever before and I plan to use more monochrome in my work.
The easiest way for me to "see in black and white" is to take off my glasses and squint. Forms become indistinct and colors become muted, but contrast and luminosity become more evident.
Monochrome (black & white I assume) is not all about contrast and luminosity, unless you're referring to just the print quality.
In addition to the aforementioned greats I applaud and acknowledge two great sources of inspiration: James Vanderzee and Jane Bown who pulled me out of the ennui I was experiencing when I felt I had no focus or purpose in photography.
I would also say Alan Schaller is very interesting to look at when it comes to black and white photography
5:45 = best photo I've seen in my life. I'm blown away
Thank you for this video
For sure it is easier to compose a shot in B+W than colour, ie a strong red in the wrong place is going to drag your eye to it If you look at some of the minimalistic colour work of Franco Fontana or the work of Maarten Rots then colour adds to it. As you said it is wise to see in B+W which is great on EVFs as you just switch it to mono and with various film sims and custom settings you get a good idea of the end result.
My favorite Black and White photographers are for sure Jacob Aue Sobol and Daidō Moriyama. I learned about their work in college and I even met Jacob Aue Sobol in person at Paris Photo as we had an excursion with our lecturer.
I end up editing a lot of my photos to b&w. It started when I tried out a tip I got about how to decide if an image is worth keeping. The idea was to try every photo in b&w when editing. If it doesen´t work stripped of coulors it´s missing something in composition. So I went through with this for a long time and found myself converting fewer and fewer images back to colour.
I just discovered You Chanel and it's my favorite after watching literally 3 videos.
When I shoot digital (I shoot mainly b&w film), I set my evf to monochrome. It allows me to see what the image will look like and not be distracted by colors. I shoot in RAW so I can still play with RGB sensitivity and balance in the final b&w image.
Thank you so much for this video. I love the sample pictures in it. It shows how much diverse can B&W be.
I love the Acros preset on Fuji. The issue is so many people just black and white think it’s a cheesy filter selected.
I have tweaked the settings slightly using some one else “recipe” and LOVE shooting black and white straight out the camera!
@@secondstage4272 All the Fuji sensors handle B&W very well. Even the pre-Acros sensors (XTrans 1 and 2) take great B&W's with the BWr preset. The XRro1 is a terrific camera for B&W. Makes you wonder if you need to spend $12,000 on a monochrome-only camera in fact.
Terrific video. Over the last year, I have been doing more and more black and white photography. Everything you discussed is something I need to practice to get better. Thanks.
I know Ansel Adams was a devotee of the Zone System, but it was originally created by Minor White.
When I shoot B/W I always turn my EVF in B/W, it will improve your shooting so much !!.
And don't be afraid of over exposed whites, they often will help you.
Color shots will show you a person, B/W will show you their soul !!!!
Actually this will hinder your ability to really see in black and white because you need your eyes to recognize contrast and tonality range - i understand that turning your viewfinder to BNW is easy but with time it won’t help you improve beyond a specific point.
@@the7thobserver700 Recognising contrast YOU DO IN B/W so you are not hindered by color information in the frame. Bright blue will turn in to dark shadows and dark green will light up in B/W something you will not think off when seeing color. Check out the color wheel translation for color to B/W
@@RS-Amsterdam I totally understand the color wheel best photos taking in black and white was done through an optical viewfinder which means colors are the only thing photographers saw the conversion, tonality range, color translations of luminous, intensity was mainly done by the eyes not through an EVF hence the comment it is better to always practice this for your eyes to get better but feel free to use whatever gets you there.
@@the7thobserver700 I’m sure he/she doesn’t even comprehend what you are saying as anything in life ignorance is a virtue 🤣 just don’t bother.
@@infectedsparrow7920 Use commas to clarify your meaning.
For years I’ve tried to like black and white photography but I just couldn’t get into it, and I don’t know whether it's the beautiful examples you show while you're talking, what you talk about or just how well you colour graded and lit the footage of yourself, but now I’m suddenly all into it, even if it's just for the sake of learning to do better colour photography. I can for instance see how an experiment of taking black-and-white JPEGs for composition and using that as a reference and inspiration for how I grade the raw file in color would be educational, useful, inspiring, broadening, refining and all the other adjectives running through my head. I'm so excited!
Edit: I just tried this out by taking BW photos in the harsh 12:00 winter sunlight and then first upping the saturation in the shadow areas and making a grading scale that progressively lowers the luminance with the saturation. It looks like classic, analog photography! Now I think growing up on BW photography is probably the reason (besides unparalleled talent) that legendary photographers like Saul Leiter where so effective
I love black and white photography but rarely try it. I know I can set my viewfinder to black and white but I'm convinced the sort of images I like have been heavily post processed.
The black and white images I've taken that I liked were edited in Nik Silver Efex.
I've seen a couple of tutorials in Photoshop that look good but I just don't find Photoshop intuitive to use which is probably why actions and presets are popular.
Still trying to find my ideal solution to achieve the black and white images I want.
I started in B an W and I know in my heart it was much more fun and pleasureful then any shot I ever managed in colour.
Tony Australia
I really appreciated that you recorded this in B&W, funny and so cool.
Thank you
I’m actually completely colour blind, and completely relate to this. Colour has zero influence on what I shoot, it’s merely about light and dark and what shapes/lines are created.
subscribed cos you explained so well and calming
Thank you so much for this channel. Narration is fantastic with great voice.
This gave me some helpful new perspectives on the benefits of and techniques for black and white photography, and the examples are wonderful. "Epic" is a perfect description for Sebastiao Salgado's work; he's one of my favorite photographers.
Thank you.
This is one of the best UA-cam recommendations I've gotten in quite a while... Fantastic video, thank you!
Brilliant video thanks!!
As a complete novice, just getting back into B&W after many years, This is extremely helpful. All of these photographs in this vid are quite inspiring. I sure would like to know the settings were used for these photos presented. The photo @5:56 is absolutely stunning!
You have got me motivated to go out a do some serious b&w shooting.
I love black and white, and I know there are loads of photographers who I could have included here.
Who is your favourite that wasn't featured?
Me !!!
Alexey Titarenko. A Russian photographer who does amazing black and white photography, City Of Shadows is a wonderful book.
Ray Metzker, Matt Black, Trent Parke, Michael Kenna, knox bertie, Abbas, lee friedlander, Sergio Lauren, Lartigue and many more maybe future episodes 👍❤️
Thank you for the video lesson. 🙂
Another quality and interesting video - such a great channel.
Great article and wonderful examples for explaining your points
Thank you again. I always learn so much from you videos that give real useful and extremely valuable information on how to improve ourselves.
Thank you for another excellent presentation. Totally agree about Adams. The key to his method was not in the exposure/developing/printing. It was in the pre-visualization. He decided ahead of time the outcome he wanted and used his technical skill to achieve it.
One theme here.....every photographer here is a film shooter(unless I missed one); Much harder getting these results with a digital sensor because the Achilles hell of digital is highlight gradation since black & white is all about the highlights and film overloads gracefully into white whereas digital's highlights clip abruptly and look terrible once it hits white since there is no gradual overload to white unlike film. Monochrome sensors also suffer from the same issue as well. (edit; this is not a hipster anti-digital comment...color photography in digital is far easier for great results)
You really need to think different when shooting digital and it's more complicated than using a Fujifilm preset or a Leica monochrome camera.
100% agree here. Digital characteristics do not match how our eyes see since film mimics human vision much more closely than digital. For example when humans look at dark shadows in real life we can't ascertain the information(it's just gone) whereas a digital sensor can pull out shadow detail. Film does the same thing as our eyes; which is why you expose for the highlights since film(like our eyes) do not simply clip-off highlights. Thats one of the big reasons why in the cinema world ARRI cameras are beloved as they handled the subtle fall-off off highlights much more like film compared to other cameras.
@@Rim00909E So does underexposing in digital not make up for this then? I’m genuinely interested to know. Wouldn’t under exposing make the shadows dark enough to mimic what our eyes can (or cannot) see, and somewhat mitigate the clipping of the highlights? Or would the mid tones and contrast suffer?
@@anthonybailey7628 You are correct. To sum up the most common issue with digital b&w I would say;
1) depressed mid-tones, 2) Excessive contrast 3)over-sharpening.
Very high level approach;
-shoot raw
-underexpose for headroom so you retain highlight detail.
-correct midtones(curve) in post. Most digital conversions have depressed mid-tones
-Stay away from the urge to sharpen you image
-Stay away from the urge to pump up contrast
-Look into using vintage lens to reduce the clinical modern look
-Study direct comparisons between digital and film of the same scene(plenty examples online). Identify the nuance differences in the midtones, highlights and shadows.
@@Rim00909E thank you for the reply. I will try to find some comparisons as you suggest.
Great selection of photographers - and your usual insightful commentary. Many thanks, Alex.
Fabulous. I like the comment that b/w photos turn a subject into a sculpture.
A spent a period when I had my digital camera take only black and white pictures, simply to be able to see immediatley what my images looked like without colour. That was a wonderfully productive learning experience.
One thing I love about B&W photography is that annoying traffic cone is no longer annoying. In color that one cone would drive the viewer quickly away.
As someone who typically works in black and white, your points are sound! Someone else in the comments mentioned Alan Schaller - excellent photographer! David Yarrow also comes to mind. Salgado is perhaps one of my favorites alongside Paul Strand and Ansel/Edward Weston.
Excellent video! It is always encouraging to hear more about black and white photography!
Great video. I always make time for mono images and still love the art. Your videos are immensely valuable and add breadth.
I’d love to see more videos about black and white on this channel
Wow the video bits had magic! I felt like I was seeing something IMPORTANT because it was made BY THE OLD ONES lol.
I grew up when a lot of black and white movies were still shown on television, and there were few channels so you'd be more likely to have seen them. I wonder if they have the same resonance for the majority of younger folks (I'm mid 50s). I guess it's not a numbers game - it's art after all - but I do feel sad that there's such a rich library of gorgeous art and craft that might be increasingly overlooked.
Anyway for some reason this year I have found myself drawn to black and white, so this video was very timely as I get ready to transition from the initial gathering / feeding phase into the okay go try this phase. Thank you for sharing this.
Enjoyed the video. I enjoy dabbling in black and white once in a while, when I was taking photography courses, we were only allowed to shoot black and white except on rare occasions. Ansel Adams is among my favorite photographers, I really get a lot of inspiration from his work. His work is also featured in that book 'Timeless Images by Arizona Highways' that I mentioned a few videos back. I really like looking at his landscape work.
Great photography Video.
No one could explain B/W Photography in such an appropiate and detailed manner. Thank you very much!
So considered and articulate. Indeed, ‘biblical’ is the exact word to describe Salgado’s work.
Danke, Thank you for talking about 'black & white' photography..............I prefer to shoot mostly in this way, as it fore fills my love of photography in a way colour can not do. I enjoy your UA-cam videos. Keep shooting. Phil...🦊📷
Wow! I always thought fan ho was the king but that second photographer Sebastiao his work is epic!!!!! 🔥🔥
I began with B&W because that is what "serious" photographers were supposed to shoot. Although I think that idea is silly, it did help make me better. When I started taking colour seriously, my goal was to make a shot that would look good in B&W as well. My understanding has matured and I realise that colour isn't less serious or less artistic. They each allow different takes on making images.
I dislike the talk of "fixing it in post" or that one can "get it right" in camera. One should strive to take the best image for one's purpose that one can, but the darkroom is a significant part of photography.
I would love to see you do a video on Catherine Leroy and her photos from the Vietnam war
BW unifies the scene. I don't like shooting digital and then deciding to convert the images. I prefer shooting film, grab a camera loaded with BW stock and head out. I am committed. (you can of course set your camera to output BW jpeg.) It can feel limiting, not every scene translates - but BW can deliver a deep sense of satisfaction. The tones of sunset clouds, a colorful flower rendered in satin white.
Also when starting out, learning to edit color can be very difficult.
Thanks Alec-
Your channel is a real gem! Thank you so much for the insights.
Very inspiring. I already an starting to apply some of these ideas to my images from this past weekend. Thank you
I have followed many of these photographers, thanks for putting together this epic video.
Still love your videos. The links you provide are also very educational and informative. The links YOU provide also show that your videos are about photography, about us and not about you. You are the least unselfish UA-camr I have ever seen and I am very grateful and thankful for finding your channel.
Top quality presentation and theme discussion
Thank you.
RS. Canada
As usual, THANKS for all your posts !
You’re a very good presenter 👍
Very powerful, ever so relevant, well presented. Thank you Alex.
I have just started watching your channel and although all the content is very worthwhile I found this offering of special interest as I use B&W often. Using a monotone screen on the camera has aided me not only in B&W but also in color (sorry, colour). I do agree with the points you make but I felt there was particular point that might have been unintentionally a bit limiting. To see the photo in B&W is, of course, desired. Yet to develop that skill I have found that post-processing color images to B&W aided me in developing the "eye," to learn what works and what does not. Also, I would like to mention, Jeremy Walker from your side of pond as a very good B&W photographer.
Thanks Alex really enjoyed this video.
An interesting discussion on B&W. Have saved for future reference ... you might have got me my next photo project. Thank you as always for such excellent and thoughtful content.
It was so nice to see someone showcase the greats of our time .I love Immogen Cunningham and Edward Weston . I love photo history and think it’s so worth learning about . Great video
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent! 👌 This video came at an opportune moment as winter is coming and colours are leaving Northern Europe. Time to turn on B&W on the camera display and stop obsessing about ETTR.
Kindly elucidate the acronymic representation of your obsession.
@@yeoh3346 exposing to the right (ETTR) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposing_to_the_right
Great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge 👌🏻
Another mind-blowing video, thanks mate. I have been fascinated by B&W and low key photography since I was a little boy. Shadows and highlights...
Loved this post. Thank you for sharing your valuable insights ❤️✌🏼
I shoot various black and white film stock. This is an excellent and inspiring video, thank you.
Thank you, Alex! You are genius of teaching!
Absolutely wonderful video. Once, I started intentionally going out and shooting in black and white it's been a great help to the rest of my photography.
One of the main benefits of shooting mirrorless is being able to set it to black and white even in the evf to really see the world without color.
That can be done with most modern DSLRs, too.
@@a.keithclarke7975 Not being able to view it in the viewfinder obviously they can shoot in black and white jpegs in general.
Love this video. I have been drawn to shooting (early film efforts) to current digital B&W. I find myself having to stop from changing my color photos to BW.