I have heard so many times when an image was not good enough, just convert it to black and white and magically it will appear more artistic. Similarly, when the image was shot in poorly lit environment suffering high ISO noise, just remove the colors and the monotone scheme will save the day - masking the high ISO noise to look like film grain instead. What happened when the lighting isn't good enough for the colors to pop? No problem, the black and white images will still look good, getting rid of color. While I don't disagree with all of these sayings, I personally believe black and white photography is a powerful medium and should be explored with higher priority than just last-minute saves for poor shooting conditions or bad color outputs. Black and white photography should be done with more intention.
It isn't easy shooting black and white. I dare say, black and white medium is more challenging than color, because removing color you also simultaneously remove many important information from the photograph itself - the playful color of the flower, the warm glowing skin or the deep, vibrant sky. Taking all the color details somehow reduces the image to a neutral flatness - just black and white and thousands of shades in between. Some argue that removing color is good because you remove distraction - I believe that is not always the case, without color, you tend to look at things differently and that may not be easy to direct the eyes of the viewers to where you want them to see in the frame. Without the powerful, bold, vivacious colors, you need to be more creative in finding drama in the image. You have to look for more contrast - the deep shadows, the brighter whites, the rough textures, the shapes and patterns that added points of interest in the image, you just have to work that much harder.
I don't shoot as much in black and white as I do in color, and I admit my usual work, I just do them in color. However, I make no excuses, if my color images are bad, they are bad, and I won't use cheap tricks like "oh just make them monotone" and voila - art is created. You have to ask why the image was bad in the first place - was it because it lacked the important moment? Did it not have compelling enough subject or story to tell in the first place? Was the composition done poorly? Was the lighting not good enough, and the images look flat without much definition or dimensionality? The way I see it, a poor color photograph will still be a poor photograph in black and white. There are no shortcuts in photography.
If you want to do black and white photography, you have to go all in. Set the camera LCD screen and EVF to preview in black and white mode. See everything in black and white, compose your subjects and framing in pure monotone, that will improve your chances of getting better output in the end. Too many people "shoot in color first, and convert in black and white later". Well, technically I also do that, because I shoot in RAW, and RAW files preserve all color information (unless you have cameras that have pure monochrome image sensor that are as rare as rare earth), but during the shooting process, execution in the field, everything is done in black and white. The intention matters, and if you start the process by wanting to get good black and white images, instead of going half in, you tend to have higher chances of success.
Visualization is important. Modern cameras allow us to do that. We can "pre-chimp", as Kirk Tuck likes to call it, and see the results on our LCD screen/EVF before we click the shutter button. Seeing black and white preview makes sense. You will know immediately from that preview whether the scene would work or not in black and white. Why wait till later to convert in post-processing to find out?
A challenge for myself in 2025? To see more in black and white. I enjoy shooting it as much as color, and I should do more black and white photography, especially for my street shooting. Monochrome shutter therapy, here I come!
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