![]() ![]() I didn’t appreciate this until I had occasion to study Ansel Adams’ 16×20 personally hand-printed images for lengthy periods. They are abstract and may only be related to reality in form and detail. Other than some high key and low key photographs and a few low-contrast compositions, the strongest B&W photographic images are graphics with light, middle and dark tones, like pen & ink drawings, pencil sketches, and charcoal sketches. The Nature of B&W Images and Principles for Creating Them But, before covering this, a summary of the principles that lead to successful B&W photographs will be most helpful. ![]() Over the past six months I reviewed my 800 best digital files to see if any of these could be converted to strong B&W photographs, and by chance noticed several new features in Lightroom Classic that enabled excellent control in selectively adjusting different tones to produce the strong graphic impact that most successful B&W images require. But, I stopped making any serious B&W images thereafter.Īnd a third irony is that it took a pandemic to get me back to B&W image-making, simply because I was trying to satisfy my desire for producing fine images at a time when, like so many others, I was not able to travel far from home to take new ones. Ironically, it was color print photography that frustrated me during that same period because the two types of photography are entirely different arts, and each must be deeply understood in order to produce exceptional images.Īnother irony is that I learned what makes really good subjects for color images and how to edit them successfully since I switched exclusively from film to digital cameras in 2002. Nevertheless, I had my occasional successes once I understood the graphic nature of B&W and other monochrome image-making. ![]() And while I greatly admired Ansel Adams’ work, I never came close to his brilliance. I spent 50 years developing B&W film and prints in the darkroom. Some do provide thumbnails indicating the likely results for using pre-determined profiles.īut, if a photographer does not understand the art of selecting the right scenes in the field, looking for the right kind of lighting, selecting the right type of files for conversion, and how to edit digital files to create impactful B&W images, the results will be disappointing more often than not. In general, the problem with commercial conversion software programs is that they don’t teach the art of pre-visualizing B&W images pre-capture, or prior to selecting files for conversion. Amazingly, my preferred method is Lightroom Classic for reasons that I will soon explain. There are a number of software programs that facilitate this conversion like Silver Effects Pro II, many of which do a credible job, and which I have used in the past. But, by far, the greatest number of B&W images are made through the conversion of digital color files to B&W files. Surprisingly there are a number of young people like my grandson who use vintage roll film cameras and silver-based film to make silver prints in the darkroom. ![]()
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