Digital SLR Photography - UK (2019-07)

NOTEVERYLANDSCAPESUITSB&W,

BUTSOMECANBETRANSFORMED

BYIT.KNOWINGWHEREA N DWHEN

T OU S EI T IS WHATCOUNTS...

BLACK & WHITE

LANDSCAPES

T

HERE’S VIBRANCY IN the natural world

in droves – from colourful clouds

during sunrise and sunset, to green

foliage, vibrant flowers, aquamarine waters

and blue skies, so why would you consider

discarding all of that colour information in

favour of shades of grey? Well, sometimes

you shouldn’t – black & white doesn’t work

for every landscape, and there are times

when a scene is so reliant on colour to

render a pleasing image that converting it to

monochrome can turn it from stunning to

lacklustre in an instant. However, there are

also times and scenes for which black &

white brings a landscape to life. This isn’t a

comprehensive list but, for example:

minimalist scenes draped in snow, mist or

fog, coastal long exposures, and scenes shot

under stormy skies often work well. There

are times at which landscapes can appear

almost monochromatic in real life too, such

as the coast with its grey rocks and murky

waters on a grey day – a lack of natural

colour in a scene can indicate the ideal time

to try a monochrome conversion. Weather

conditions can dictate whether you choose

to see in colour or black & white too – harsh

midday sun creates high contrast light which

isn’t typically suited to landscape

photography, but it offers the ideal chance

for using colour filters (see page 53) or an

infrared filter to exaggerate the tonality in the

sky, clouds and foliage. Flat, dull light can

equally translate well into monochrome,

At sunriseandsunsetat thecoast,the range

of warm oranges, yellows and reds in the sky

reflect in the water and wet rocks, so these

types of coastal scenes are often best left in

colour – convert a striking sunset to black &

white and you’ll often be left with quite a flat

image with little tonal difference between

the different shades, even with the use of

colour filters. But on a dull day, seascapes

and coastal scenes are often already

monochromatic in their nature, so it makes

sense that they often suit black & white

conversions well. Grey rocks and often grey

skies (in the UK!) leave little colour to remove,

and on all but the brightest days even

elements such as sand and the water itself

can have very low saturation in them. Don’t

just focus on wider scenes – coastal

landscape details shot under direct light can

also work well in monochrome, especially

when strong side-lighting is used to extract

features within the scene – think patterns in

the sand and rocky textures as these translate

well into gritty, detailed and high contrast

black & white images.

ADAM

BU

RT

ON

COASTAL LANDSCAPES

54 Digital SLR Photography July 2019