Black and White Photos With Your Digital Camera

Most digital cameras allow you to take your photos in black and white if you wish. Some digital cameras have such a feature built in that will allow you to convert photos to black and white within the camera. Also, most cameras now come with some sort of editing software. If you take the photo in color you can adjust it to black and white with that software. Doing it this way, you have the option to use the photo either way.

There is a huge difference in the quality of black and white that you can create depending on the quality of the software that you use. If you are serious about your photography but don't want to spring for Adobe Photo Shop then Adobe's Lightroom is an excellent choice. I find it very intuitive. Much less costly particularly if you are a student.

If you have come into photography in the digital age then you may never have worked with or used black and white images. A couple of clicks can transform a photo from a simple recording of a place or an event into a work of art. (If you have a friend that has an old film enlarger or the availability of one at a school or some such, try your hand. It is a lot more work but real magic.)

If you have been just taking color pictures it is time to take things up a notch:

Pick ten photos that you have taken in the last 2-3 months. Open your software editing program. You will likely have gotten one with your camera purchase. If you don't have it available or don't like it then there are several free programs online. One such is PhotoScape. Quite simple to use and has a few interesting filters. There are only three different 'black and white' settings that are available but it gets one started.

With whatever software that you are using take your first photo and convert it to black and white. Save it as a separate file. Now you can make it a little more interesting by using the Brightness/Contrast settings. Make a couple of adjustments and then save that one to a different file name again. Open both photos and the color one and compare.

Don't be afraid to experiment. As long as you save the photo to a different file name than the original then you will be OK. Try some with people/portraits so that you can see what happens with skin tones and then some with landscapes or even a beach or sunset shot. You will be amazed - hopefully, in a good way. This exercise will also help you to pay attention to certain things next time you are shooting that particular type of subject. For example, if you want more detail in a portrait shot, you will likely try to change the light or settings next time.

While you are experimenting play with the brightness and contrast buttons. Try some extremes to see the what effects that you can create. There are many sophisticated photo editing programs but something like PhotoScape will give you some experience to see what you like and don't like. From there you can research to see the best software for your purposes.

If you are going to take photos that you are intending to convert to black and white note that colors will come out various shades of grey. Ideally one wants the full range from white to black in most finished photos. If you are shooting in very bright sunlight, when you convert you may end up with just white and black. If that is your intention it can be accentuated by using the Brightness/Contrast buttons again.

The most useful thing to do as with anything is to try it out as you are learning. Keep that balance. Don't try to study it all first but take one thing at a time and try it.

M Glyn authors the website http://www.photo-photo.com/ A photo website with tips and tricks on photography.

Original article

Introduction to Black and White Photography

Black and white photography is just like a history lesson that brings you back to the very basics of the art of photography, when pictures were first taken without color information.

These pictures were taken with films which soon became a 'specialist' genre with the introduction of colour film and processing these black and white negatives became more and more costly and unprofitable for local businesses.

Currently the popularisation of digital editing of pictures using sophisticated software such as Photoshop made it possible to reproduce the effects of a monochrome photo by deriving it from an actual full-colour digital camera rather than for a specified camera that is dedicated to taking such images.

The advantage is you can tweak and alter your color original to any mixture of "developing" style that you want without additional cost, and still have the original full colour image available!

Currently, the monochrome function in most cameras still exist, but the more popular way to render such images is still to take a picture in colour, and to convert it into black and white using photo editing software, the more popular among photographers being Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

Black and white photography concentrates on the contrast that is in the picture which is thus the main focus of the picture in the absence on colours and focus on contrast and textures.

In monochrome photography, it does not mean the photo contains only black and white hues, but also the millions of shades of grey between solid pure black and pure white. As such the grey in the picture would present a totally different feel to the picture than in colour.

An effective B&W photo with a wide range of midtones and greys allow the showcasing of contrast and textures between different objects in the picture, and thus injects a large dose of realism into your picture as it could have more feel than with a picture without as much contrast in the picture - commonly known as a 'flat' photo.

Developing the eye to 'see' mono in a coloured world is critical as the scene loses colour information and replaced by grey hues, you must be able to identify which color shade will provide the best contrast when converted into a black and white photo.

Shadows plays an important part in the picture as it defines shape, structure, and feel of the photograph all by itself. Learning how to read shadows is critical for effective black and white photos.

Remember the coloured filter used during the film days? Photographers before use coloured filters to add contrast and alter the intensity of certain color spectrum on a film negative.

For example, yellow filter would render certain scenes a bit lighter while more solid colours such as navy blue or brown would result in a more solid grey or even black. In digital black and white, the same effect can be adjusted using the individual color channels available when converting a colored photo to a black and white photo.

To know more on how to use digital photography to your craft and business, David's Simple Photography offers you simple lessons that are so simple and straight-forward that you'll be able to start taking better pictures almost immediately after reading the tutorials.

By learning these fundamental and techniques in digital photography and flash photography, you'll be confident to take any kind of photographs in any situation with any camera you currently have.

Gregory co-writes on David's Simple Photography on digital image manipulation.

Original article