Black and White
Hey guys, I'm Aly! I'm a momma to two littles and they are who I mostly photograph. I started photography about 3 years before I had my oldest, I wanted to be prepared for when I started having kids. One thing that I have always loved and will continue to love is black and white photography. It has my heart and you'll find me posting black and white pretty frequently. I love colors, too, but there's something so timeless about black and white photography that I keep going back to.
For the longest time, anytime someone would see my work, they would always comment on my black and white images. They always said they loved the light, or they loved the conversion, or they loved the depth. When I first started my photography, I used to edit every image in color and black and white. Now, it's one or the other and only occasionally both. I would convert every image to black and white, it didn't matter what it was. But now that I'm a little more experienced in photography, I've learned that there are times where it's totally acceptable to convert an image to black and white, and there's times where you shouldn't. Not every image will look good in black and white, and that's ok. So, let's break it down a little.
When should you convert your image to black and white?
Nikon D610 Sigma 24mm 1.4 ART lens ISO 1000 f/2.8 1/400
1. When the Lighting is Amazing
First and foremost, if the light is flat or just plain uninteresting it won't convert well to black and white. I see this time and time again, that they converted to black and white because the light wasn't interesting. Because they were trying to cover up a mistake. That's not the purpose of black and white. So get that out of your head now!! When editing your images and trying to see which images you should convert to black and white, light is a huge factor. Dramatic light is even better for converting. Do you only convert your dark and moody images to black and white? No. But should the light be an important factor of whether you convert it? Yes. Look at the light. When you convert your image, does it enhance the light, or does your image now look flat?
Sometimes when I'm shooting, I will intentionally think to myself "this image is going to be black and white" and I'll try to get the light to look it's best. So, again, lighting is very important when converting to black and white, but it's not everything. There are other important factors to consider...
Nikon D610 Sigma 24mm 1.4 ART lens ISO 250 f/4.0 1/200
Nikon D610 Sigma 24mm 1.4 ART lens ISO 3200 f/3.5 1/400
2. When the Connection is Amazing
When your subject is connecting with either you and the camera, or someone else in the frame, that is a great way to show off your black and white. Black and white images bring a timeless, classic, beautiful look to your images. When you have amazing connection, when you can feel the love of your subject. When you can feel the happiness, the sadness, the joy, the pain. When the image makes you feel something, that is a good time to convert it to black and white. When you're trying to bring out emotion and showcase that emotion, that's a good time to convert!
The image above my sister actually took, because, yes that's me in the image! The connection she captured was so beautiful. I had to bring it out with a black and white conversion. It's one of my all time favorite images from my daughters birth. My husband is my rock and I feel like it really shows in this image.
Remember that the connection can be either between your subjects or you and your subject. The images above are to show you. The first one is a connection between me (the camera) and my subject (my son). While the second image is showing connection between the subjects (myself and my husband). Connection is a strong photography element you can bring into any photo to strengthen it, but I just feel like black and white enhances it even more.
Nikon D610 Sigma 24mm 1.4 ART lens ISO 1600 f/2.2 1/320
3. When the Color Doesn't Impact the Image
I want to put a disclaimer out there and say I do not recommend you convert an image simply because you can't get white balance down. No, please work and try to get white balance correct. When you convert an image to black and white, it's just as important for you white balance to be as correct as possible. It does effect the color and quality of your black and white if your white balance is off.
There are some times where the color of your image is important. It either helps with composition, makes your subject pop, or can just really overall strengthen your image. In those cases, do not convert to black and white. Keep the color! But when the color isn't important in the image, or sometimes even distracting, that's a good time to convert your image to black and white. But keep in mind that the lighting should still be amazing.
My daughter's onesie in the image above was pink...and I'm not a huge pink person. I love it in small doses. But there was no way I would be able to replicate this image. So while shooting, I thought about how it might make a good black and white.
Nikon D610 Sigma 85mm 1.4 ART lens ISO 1000 f/4.0 1/200
4. When you Want to Bring Out Details
Often times when you convert to black and white, it will bring out the details of an image. This could be little curls on a little head, the storytelling details of hands, or a close up of eyes. Whatever the detail, it is usually enhanced by a black and white conversion. I especially love to enhance the little, tiny details that may have gone unnoticed before. A nice little tool in Lightroom is the clarity brush (I don't like to do the slider on the overall image, but to enhance little details, the brush really helps) I like to brush over a detail I'd like to bring out just a little. In a color image, you have to be careful because the clarity slider/brush could really change the white balance of an image. But in black and white, it just helps to bring out the details more. I'll talk more about this in the video below. In the image above I brought out her little drool more with a clarity brush. It's a subtle but impact-full change.
Converting to black and white helps bring out texture, water, just little details that could go unnoticed in a color image.
In the video below I edit the image above for you! From start to finish. If you have any questions, please let me know!
Nikon D610 Sigma 24mm 1.4 ART lens ISO 250 f/1.4 1/3200
Look for the Shadows
I think when there is interesting shadows that you'd like to really emphasize, converting to black and white is a great idea! I love to look at the shadows (or the light) to see and think if it will convert nicely to black and white. Shadows have their place in color images, but they can really bring an image to light once you convert them. Just like in the image above, the color edit is fun and playful, but when I converted it to black and white it made my little photographers heart beat a tiny bit faster and I knew this was how this image should be. The light mixed with the shadows create a timeless look, a mysterious look. Let's talk real quick about when it would be a bad choice to convert an image to black and white.
When the color is important to the overall image When the white balance is just off - I recommend really working and trying to make the white balance correct When you're trying to cover up distractions - don't rely on black and white to do this, get your image as close to correct in camera, this includes cleaning up your scene a little if you need to When the light is flat - black and white isn't going to save the flat light, it'll just enhance it even more Tips for shooting with black and white in mind.
I do recommend that you should try to shoot with black and white in mind. Meaning, as you take an image, think about whether it will be good as color or black and white. What will make it a good black and white? Connection, distracting colors, amazing light. What can you do to make this image convert nicely to black and white while you're shooting? Make sure exposure is correct. No blown highlights, skin looks smooth, white balance is as correct as possible. All of these factors will help you create stronger, more emotive black and white images. Tips on editing a black and white photo
Luckily for you guys I've created an editing video just for you! It's a Lightroom only edit, so if you're exclusively in Photoshop I'm so sorry! I never edit my images there. But the most important thing for making your black and whites pop in editing is this:
add contrast
add clarity (not a lot, just enough to make it pop)
play with an s-curve to bring in even more contrast making sure you don't clip important blacks (on subjects)
enhance the light with graduated filters or radial filters
the white balance of your image is important and can change your overall exposure
If you have any questions about the editing video, please let me know. I will answer any and all questions! If you don't see an answer, please message me directly on my instagram (@alyandlittles). Thanks!
(Video link - https://vimeo.com/397306574 )
Such an excellent article - thank you!