Find an ideal composition first, and then
consider whether color is even needed.
B&W Is More Forgiving
I’d wager that nine out of 10 landscape
photographers would agree that their
favorite time to shoot would be at sunrise
or sunset. I know that I’d count myself
among them. The light is soft, radiant
and its low angle creates beautiful, long
shadows. I could spend hours extolling
the virtues of shooting during the sunrise
or sunset hours. However, the fact is that
we need to be equipped to shoot at any
time of day, especially when the light
and/or weather are terrible.
This is another area where black-and-
white shines, so to speak. The truth is
that while the light at high noon can be
harsh, it can also yield some impressive
results when you strip away color and
focus on tone. In fact, the more I devel-
oped an appreciation for black-and-
white processing, the more enjoyable
I found it to photograph midday when
the light is harshest. With traditional
color photography, such light could be
a detriment. However, when I approach
these same compositions with a black-
and-white treatment in mind, that same
harsh light turns into an asset because
I can use those deep shadows to my
advantage without needing to worry
about its effect on color.B&W Will Help You Develop
Processing Skills
One of the byproducts of editing in
black-and-white that I hadn’t expected
was developing a newfound appreciation
for the subtlety and elegance that you can
bring to your post-processing workflows.
I found that the more I worked in color,
the more my edits were made on a global
basis. In other words, I mostly worked
with sliders that affected the entire image
as a whole as opposed to localized edit-
ing. While there’s certainly nothing
wrong with this approach to photo edit-
ing, my time learning about black-and-
white treatments opened me up to just
how much power you have simply withOpposite: When color is
removed, line, shape and
texture are emphasized.Left: Harsh midday light
can detract from a color
image but can often
work for black-and-white
interpretations.Below: Lightroom’s B&W
Mixer gives you control over
how each color range in an
image is converted.outdoorphotographer.com November 2019 57