A
t its core, photography is the art
of recording light. Not color.
Just light. With light comes the
absence of it, and the beautiful inter-
play between light and shadow creates
the contrast in tonality that’s essential
to black-and-white photography. By
learning how to see the tonal variances
within the scene in front of your lens,
you can determine contours and shapes.
It’s not the color blue, green or red that
defines the ridge of a mountain. It’s the
way light falls on its peak to one side
while casting a shadow on the other.
These details, contours and shapes form
because of tones created from the ballet
of light and shadow.
Before we dive into how black-and-
white photography can help you cre-
ate stronger images, it’s important to
point out that there are many ways of
approaching this process. Very early on
in my days of digital photo editing, I
thought that converting a photo to black-
and-white simply involved cranking theSaturation slider to -100, resulting in a
grayscale image. As I spent more time
understanding the software tools avail-
able at my disposal, I quickly realized
that other techniques gave me far more
fine control over the look and results of
my black-and-white treatment. I’ll go
over some of the methods, techniques
and apps available in this article.B&W Will Help You Find Your
Strongest Compositions
The strength of any composition arguably
boils down to its primary components.
In this age of in-your-face presets and
Instagram filters, you could say that many
photographers rely on the candy-coated
layer of color to build their compositions
upon, and that certainly can work some
of the time. However, there’s no escaping
the fact that a strong composition primar-
ily consists of lines, shapes, patterns and
the use of space—all characteristics that
can be displayed most effectively with
black-and-white photography. Let’s takemy photo of a hoodoo amphitheater as
an example.
The argument could be made, quite
easily, actually, that color is the critical
element in this composition because of
the deep reds, oranges and blues through-
out the frame. This area of the Southwest
U.S. is famous for its red rock. I propose,
however, that relying on the colors within
the frame as the bedrock of my compo-
sition is shaky. Before ever considering
color, my goal is to look for light: its
quality, its direction and the shapes it
forms as it hits the contours of the scene.
When you compare the color version
of this photo with one that has had a
black-and-white treatment applied, you
can instantly see some important dis-
tinctions. Notice how every single ridge
gets defined because of light and shadow.
Strong lines that radiate throughout the
frame build layers and shapes for the
viewer to explore. Rather than focusing
on the color of the rock, you’re presented
with the awesome detail and texture of it.56 Outdoor Photographer outdoorphotographer.com