Black & White Photography In The 21st Century

So what is different about black & white photography nowadays as apposed to fifty years ago? Well, a good bit has changed. Most people now use a digital camera as apposed to a film camera, most people also edit their pictures on a computer instead of in a dark room (post-production), and most people shoot their pictures in color and then convert them to B&W. This post has to deal with the digital camera users since B&W film is still readily available.

So how do I shoot black & white photos with my digital camera? There are two different ways and the pros and cons of both will be discussed here.

You say your camera has B&W setting? Most DSLR’s and point and shoot cameras have a B&W option. This camera option can be useful if you do not plan on post production editing. To use this setting just go to your camera’s menu and select the Black & White or Monochrome setting and start shooting pictures. The big con is if you do decide to later edit the pictures you can but you will have much less flexibility with the editing options.

There is, however, another B&W option and in my opinion a better option. That option is to shoot your pictures in RAW format and convert them to B&W using Adobe® Photoshop, Apple’s Aperture, or your favorite photo editing software. I personally like, and use, the Aperture add-on Silver Efex Pro by NIK (the add-on is also available for Adobe® Photoshop Win & Mac). This software allows you to convert your color images to black & white with minimal effort. There are multiple choices for post-production image editing including: Neutral Exposure, Underexposure, Overexposure, High Structure, Pull Process N -1, Push Process N +1, Push Process N +2, Push Process N +3, High Contrast Red Filter, High Contrast Orange Filter, High Contrast Yellow Filter, High Contrast Green Filter, Full Spectrum, Full Spectrum Inverse, Dark Sepia, Soft Sepia, Ambrotype, Cyanotype, Tin Type, Infrared Film Normal, Infrared Film Soft, Soft Skin, Wet Rocks, Darken Contrast Vignette, Antique Plate I, Antique Plate II, Antique Solarization, Holga, and Pinhole. You can also simulate your favorite film type, and adjust brightness, contrast, and structure. There is also a ton of other options and settings within the Silver Efex Pro add-on. Apple’s Aperture, Adobe® Photoshop, and other photo editing software also have built in ways to convert your color images to black & white. If you would like to know more about Silver Efex Pro or any or any of the other fine software and add-ons NIK produces please check out NIK’s web site www.niksoftware.com.

On a quick side note, if you want to shoot infrared photography, there are companies that are now modifying DSLR cameras to be able to shoot infrared exclusively. If you are wondering why you cannot take infrared without a camera modification … it is because most camera manufacturers build their image sensors to block infrared light.

Well, I hope this has given you a jumping off point to go out and take your own B&W photos. Again remember that this is just my opinion and that there are many different ways to take or convert your own pictures to black and white.

HDR Photography

High Dynamic Range photography, herein referred to as HDR, is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDR is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.  Basically, HDR photography is a set of multiple images "layered" together using a computer program to show the full range of light and dark areas in the photo.

What you need to produce an HDRI or High Dynamic Range Image is a  digital camera with AEB aka Auto Exposure Bracketing (on a Nikon it is referred to as just "Bracketing") or the ability to shoot RAW format and a RAW editor such as Aperture, Adobe® Photoshop, or RAWShooter.  Also needed is an HDR Program such as Photomatix or Adobe® Bridge.  The difference between the these two programs is the fact that Photomatix is a "stand alone" program specifically created for the purpose of creating HDR photographs.  Adobe® Bridge, on the other hand, has many options.  One of those options includes merging multiple images to create an HDR photograph in Adobe® Photoshop the image must then be shrunk from 32 bit to 8 bit for editing.  None of the programs I have found have been exceptionally easy to use or very straight forward. However, if you are computer savvy or if you do not mind reading the "how to" that comes with the different programs it is not too awfully hard to figure out how to create beautiful HDR photographs. 

Okay, here is the simplest explanation of how to create a HDRI.  First, take one RAW picture or take, at least, three "bracketed" pictures (bracketing should be set up to be separated by at least one full stop).  If you choose the one RAW image you will need to create two more versions of the picture using Aperture or Photoshop.  One of the versions needs to be underexposed and one needs to be overexposed.  If you choose to go the way of bracketing you will also need and overexposed, an underexposed, and a properly exposed photo.  What is great about using the bracketed photos is the ability to load the bracketed images straight into the HDR creation software.  Once the pictures have been loaded into the creation software, let the software render the image and you now have a beautiful HDR photograph.

For more information there are many websites that come up doing a Google search for HDR photography, but here is a link to a page with tons of great information and samples of beautiful HDR photographs www.vanilladays.com.