Thanks, Bill and you are correct; these are my favorite kinds of days. There are several reasons. With softer light, you can always go back and manage the intensity of the dynamic range in post-production. The opposite is challenging - sunny days are very sharp, and have short dynamic range, usually with an abundance of contrast and harsh highlights and deep, deep shadows. Generally speaking, both hold very little detail. It’s tough to work with these types of files, especially in black and white. However, consider a day that has an additional atmosphere (weather) - these can add to the visual story, increase the mood, add dimension and depth. If you have a soft shadow with a lot of detail, you can now work that in a post-session to either elongate or shorten because the shadow and highlight detail are there to work. I have a tendency to love these days because I have more control over the range of light. Recently when shooting in the Dolomites in Italy, I would get up at 4:00 AM, look up at the sky, and if I saw stars go back to bed! Hope this helps.
Hi Randy,
I think it can be helpful. Even though I’m a bit faster with my analog method of the handheld Mono viewer and black frame. using the camera and live-view can sometimes lock you into a particular view, focal length and perspective.
Putting the camera in BW can be an excellent way to learn. You have to make sure you don’t get locked in too much. If you were to carry it around with a zoom lens and work different composition ideas from a lot of angles trying to previsualize the outcome, that might work well. Also, what I would want folks to think about when doing this - is how do they intend (with purposeful intent) to use their post-production tools to finalize the image. Many people will lock into what they see on screen and then have a predisposed set of expectations. But the truth for me is that it is just the beginning. I combine the in-field visual with my vision for how it will evolve when I’m thinking about the post and the final print.
I can see it benefits under certain conditions. Especially in low light. I’ve used it well before sunrise with moonlit nights. I crank the ISO and it allows me to see what was barely visible. Hope this answers the question.
Thanks for doing this AMA session. My question: Do you approach B&W landscapes differently that a color image, even if its the same scene? That is, settings, exposure, contrast, etc.
Thanks.
Larry
Hi Arifur,
The first is I use very few filters. However, I do use ND filters when shooting Long-Exposure. Generally, I keep a 10ND, 6ND, 3ND with me and a polarizer. I don’t have much need for a lot of filters beyond that for my work.
So let me answer the white question which to me, is more important. In my humble opinion there is nothing wrong with a lot of white space. It’s all about balance and what visual story you are trying to communicate. When appropriately used as negative space, white can help define a focal point, isolate a subject and accentuate visual balance. If your subject matter is not very interesting to the viewer, white will just overpower the image, and yes, it will fall apart. Here are a couple of images that may help illustrate the point.
Thank Laura,
So I primarily work in Adobe Lightroom as it mimics the previous process I used in the silver darkroom. Yes, you are correct I start with color - but I visualize in BW before capture.
My process is simple, but there are a few basic that I do. I do not use pre-sets at all. I believe that going through the entire conversion process from start to finish and exploring options is key to learning to produce dynamic monochrome images. Don’t get me wrong here, pre-sets have a lot of value for exploration and repeatable types of images. I don’t use them for my work because I need to know every step and not have a preset skip over parts of the processes. I do a necessary RAW to BW conversion using the BW conversion button and baseline algorithm in Lightroom and start from there. At this point, I should mention that you can see free examples of this on my Youtube channel. And I will be posting on NPN shortly. Ok, so the next steps (to me) are essential. I hammer the tone sliders -exposure, contrast, highlight, shadow, white and black. I push these all over and use them to help me visualize the potential range of the light I can get out of the file. I explore what detail I can hold in highlights, shadow, and search the data to see if what I visualized was captured.
I generally push and pull the sliders and settle on a decent starting point and begin dodging and burning layer after layer until I’m close to what I visualized in the field. Again it may be best to see the live videos. I hope this helps.
Thanks Larry,
Well, at this point, I don’t even consider the scene for its a color value other than how it may impact my BW outcome, I don’t generally feel the settings are too important, other than how it may affect contrast and detail. With that in mind, I do think very carefully about the highlights and shadow and how the exposure may need to be adjusted to achieve my desired outcome. But, I may do the same in color. However, color can influence BW in unseen ways. If I have whites and yellows in a scene, they may render values that fall into a range that could merge into the same range during a conversion. I am careful to be mindful of that and may consider how to adjust the luminance values of each in post-production.
Jack, could you please list the steps you took to process that Death Valley image in your first comment from raw to the b&w displayed next to it. Thanks.
Hi Igor.
Thanks, Igor There are quite a few steps involved and the untold number of dodging and burning sequences that are very challenging to put into words step by step. I’m going to import a Jpeg that may help. I’m not sure how good the quality will reproduce in this format. However, I have several free tutorials on my YouTube channels that would demonstrate my techniques live. I think that might give you a lot more of the subtle moves I use and the tools I use in real life vs. a static explanation? Here’s a link to a Raw to BW conversion that may help from my YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq4SVMrAyFG7lyjIfFCBJ3g You can also check out a few of the other ones.
@Jack_Curran Jack, thank you so much for taking the time to share. Your work is stunning and inspiring and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your generosity in sharing your digital darkroom techniques. Of course, how you do it and why you do it are two different things. I don’t have another forty years in this life to figure it out but your sharing may get me there before they plant me. Thanks so much.
Kerry,
You are very welcome! Constructive and thoughtful people shared their talent, skill and vision with me, so I feel it’s only right to share with others! I appreciate your kind words. Jack
Hello Jack,
I would like to know if you set you camera to black & white or do you make the change over at the beginning of process the photo?
If you set up to shoot in black & white do you ever change the photo to color?
Thank you.
Dave Macias
Hi Dave! Thanks for the question! On my camera, I hit the menu and go to picture style and choose monochrome. Then you can either shoot through the viewfinder or turn on Live View. Live View is beautiful because you can preview the scene. The camera itself records in color RAW (assuming you have it set to RAW), so you still get a file with all the essential information. However, to be totally transparent, I rarely (almost never put the camera in Monochrome), I still like to use my mental conversion process and my Tiffen Mono viewing filter. By going a bit old school, it challenges me to think about the process and the final tools I’ll use in post and making the exhibition print. With that said, if I’m struggling - I will take a look to see if the image is different than what I’m visualizing. To your second question - I don’t convert back to color because I rarely use the BW feature. However, When you open the file - again, assuming you shot in RAW, it will be color, and you can then use this file post-processing with all the tools like the color sliders to adjust the image.
Do you find inspiration outside of photography and nature? Any other art forms such as painting, films, etc?
Hey David,
Great question.
Having also worked in Marketing and Advertising, one area that helped me understand how to visually and organize separate elements into a cohesive image was working with Designers and Art Director. Working with designers first as clients and later on teams I led providing full service marketing really started me down a path of looking at the world beyond where I was as a photographer. I used to scour the Art Director Awards books. In particular I found the Tokyo Art Directors Club highly inspirational. These designers produced beautiful clean design, effective use of white space, and powerful, simple stories. Much different than what I was seeing in the US. It was like, duh, will you look at that. I also enjoy looking at old black and white movies for the lighting. While I am an all-natural light shooter, I was fascinated with the drama of their techniques. Using those high power Mole Richardson lights really accentuated highlights and shadows. Something I find is essential in most of my work. Thanks David
What advice would you give someone wanting to get into b/w photography today as compared to you starting years ago. Thanks for your YouTube channel as it is very helpful to see the beginning to end process.
Thanks for the question Chris. I would say there are so many options and tools out there today, and it can be confusing. If I were just now starting, I would say study the Masters of the craft, past & present. Go backwards to understand what makes a great B&W photograph, whether people, sports, nature or landscape. Focus on connecting the artistic (vision) side with the craft side in the darkroom or digital post-production side. Many of today’s photographers never leave the digital world, and I believe it is essential to create a tangible output of some kind and preferably a print for the wall. Additionally, my biggest recommendation has always been to simplify one’s focus to a subject matter that they can connect with passionately. Shooting too many subjects dilutes focus and interest and the ability to refine and get better.
Thank you all for the fantastic questions. I truly enjoyed answering all your stimulating questions. It has been my pleasure to share a little of what I’ve learned over the years! What an excellent resource we all share in this Nature Photographers Network! Please share this site with all your friends and let’s all continue to collaborate here! Thanks to David for inviting me to contribute to the site and all of you, excellent photographers!
Have a great day!
Jack Curran